But Not With Haste
by jouissance
Summary: "I am nightmares, and fear, and the sense of dread that prickles up your spine." An AU trip to the Underworld to save a pirate and discover the inner demons of our fairy tale favorites. Regina Centric OQ, CS, EC, SQ FRIENDSHIP, Henry, and Dimples. everyone gets to play. I'm horrible at summaries...please read anyway.
1. Chapter 1

**Content didn't change, I just discovered a few glaring typos I couldn't live with while working on the second chapter so I updated (hopefully with no errors.)**

 **Okay lovelies, here goes nothing. I've been promising a multi-chapter for a good long while now and I think I finally have enough of a handle on this to start posting. Please feel free to keep me on track and on timely updating. The first bit is from a one-shot that I posted forever and a day ago that I always intended to be a part of this so if the beginning feels familiar I only stole it from myself.**

 **Set after Swan Song and then just going off on my merry way completely ignoring just about every aspect of the cannon Underworld. Lots of OQ (because Always.) and Emma, Charming, Hook, Regina BroTP feels. Aaaaanyway...off we go!**

* * *

"Thought I'd find you here," Robin gingerly steps his way over broken branches until he's standing behind her. She was sitting on the fallen tree where he'd found her reading her mother's letter. It felt like a lifetime ago with all they had been through since. His hands rest on her shoulders pulling her back slightly so that she leans against him, before rubbing the tension out of knotted muscles.

"How did you know I'd be here?" She's quiet, the kind of quiet that scares him because he knows the voices in her mind are screaming.

"This is where you come," he presses a little harder feeling the knot that always seems to be present begin to loosen. "Also you weren't at home, your office, or your vault." He waits for the soft laugh, the roll of her eyes, and the chiding of his concern, but they don't come. She's drained; they both are. They're leaving for the Underworld in a matter of hours and today had been chaotic to say the least. It was announced over coffee yesterday morning: Emma was going after Hook. He wasn't surprised, nor was he surprised that Regina was the first to volunteer to go with her. She needed her, Regina had very rationally explained: Emma couldn't very well split her own heart. Their troop had been settled quickly after that: the Charmings weren't going to lose their daughter, Henry wasn't abandoning his mothers and he wasn't about to let Regina walk through hell alone.

They had gone their separate ways after that, all with their own preparations to make and goodbyes to say. But now they're just waiting and thinking and its tearing her apart. "Regina?" he sweeps her hair back, kissing her neck when she doesn't respond to his touch.

"I'm sorry. I'm just…" She shivers under his touch and he lets her hair drop to recover her neck.

"Scared," he finishes for her because he knows she can't admit it; she won't appear weak, especially to herself. "Do you want me to leave?" His hands slide down her arms and back up, squeezing her shoulders on every pass. He has no real intention of leaving her alone right now, but he's not above retreating to a respectable distance and waiting her out someplace that she can't see.

"No," she answers in the same quiet voice, crossing her arms over her chest and reaching to grab his hands and hold them to her. She's resolute in her decision to see this misadventure through, but that hasn't stopped the tremble and the dread running through her. "I hate leaving them," she barely gives breath to the words and Robin doesn't catch them all, but she pulls him closer so that he has to straddle the log to keep from tumbling forward. He pulls her back to his chest, holds her tight while she finds her balance then lets his hands coast over every part of her that he can reach: a slow, gentle pattern that has her relaxing against him and his mind wandering to this mornings task.

They'd taken Roland and the baby to Tinkerbelle. The fairy being the biggest champion for their relationship had, of course, promised to keep their children safe. It had been impossible to explain to Roland why their new family had to spend some time apart. He had clung to Regina's knees, adamant that they would not be safe without her here. Regina's strength astounded him as she knelt to Roland's height and spoke to him like the man he would someday be. "I need you to be the brave knight for your sister," she told him. "I need you to help Tink take care of her while your father and I help Emma."

The boy's tears dried with his newfound responsibility. He placed his small hand on Regina's shoulder and squeezed before turning to his father. Robin also crouched to his level and took in the seriousness on his son's face that he had never seen before. "You need to keep Regina safe," Roland stage whispered into his father's ear as he hugged him goodbye. "You have to keep her safe so she can keep everyone else safe." By the time Robin had recovered enough to stand next to a tear streaked Regina, Roland was already hovering over his baby sister and informing the fairy just how she liked to be held. Robin had no idea when his son had become so brave or so wise, but he knew he wouldn't break the promise he made to him: he would keep Regina safe.

"There's no way I'm talking you out of this, is there?" Regina feels his arms tighten at her words. It's getting dark, the air cooling, but neither is ready to move just yet.

"None whatsoever." He drops a kiss to her temple.

"What about kidnapping Henry until we're gone?" She laughs, but he knows she's not joking. He doesn't need words to answer, just holds her a bit tighter. "I have no idea what we're going to find there. How am I supposed to keep him safe if I don't know what he's walking into? He's just a child."

"He's not." Robin leans forward so that she's forced to shift. "You've raised him well, Regina. He's been through more and handled it better than most men I've known."

Regina sighs audibly, now sitting across from him, knee to knee, as she picks at the bark between them. "I need you to promise me something," she asks in the same tone she used with Roland. Robin watches her as she looks everywhere but his eyes. He knows what's she's going to ask. Just as he knows he can't refuse her. "You'll get him home, even if it's without me."

He stills her hands with one of his, the other hooks under her chin. He doesn't pull, just leaves his hand there until she meets his eyes on her own. "I'm not leaving that place without you. I promised my son that I would keep you safe," his hand moves to her hair, pulling her close enough to kiss her lips. It's brief, chaste, but needed. "It's a promise I intend to keep."

"I'm the Evil Queen. It's the Underworld. The lives I've destroyed? The people I've killed? There's a very good chance that I'm not going to get out of there; I probably don't deserve to." She's looking past him again, towards the inevitable pain that they're willingly walking into.

"Then don't go." His hands are on her biceps, forceful enough to get her attention. He knows it's pointless, they've had this argument before and its one he'll never win. But he'll keep trying nonetheless. "Regina, don't go." Hands slide down her arms to hold her hands before bringing them to his lips.

"I'm the only one that HAS to go!" She pulls her hands away before his lips can make contact and she's up and pacing the clearing around them. "Who's going to split Emma's heart?" she yells to the night. "She saved my life. None of this would have _ever_ happened if she hadn't. I owe her a chance to save his. I owe him a chance to be the man that he's been trying to be since he met her. It's the least I can do after what I've put them through." She's instantly defensive, her back to him, arms locked across her chest.

He knows better than to touch her right now, has been a victim of that temper one to many times. But that's it, he thinks, the real reason why she's putting herself through this. She hasn't told him of her past with the pirate, only that he met the monster she used to be and seeing the pain in her eyes, he has never pushed for more. "You can't possibly hold yourself responsible for Rumpelstiltskin's deceit," he voices when she finally stills. "Killian sacrificed himself to save Emma, to save everyone. It was incredibly brave and it was _his_ choice. He knew what he was doing." Robin hates the words coming out of his mouth. The pirate had become a friend in this foreign land and he's abdicating leaving him to an undeserved fate. But he knows Killian would understand: Robin can't lose Regina. Hadn't his friend done this all for love?

"But he didn't get to do it. He was a hero and he was robbed of his damned happy ending." Her arms drop to her sides, anger quelled for the moment, replaced by exhaustion and an inevitable acceptance of what she has to do. It's his signal to move. Robin grabs her hand, raises it over her head and spins her into him. It garners the half smile that he's after before she wraps both arms around his neck and lets him "dance" her back and forth in the moonlight. Regina melts in to him, knowing then and there that he's right: she needs him beside her through this, she loves him, weakness be damned. But she also knows that weakness is something she won't be afforded in this new land. And Henry. She and Emma will never be able to sneak away without their son following. "Promise me," she asks again, breath warm against his neck.

"You already know I will." He kisses her deeply and continues to hold her close. He'll enjoy these last few moments peace before he must decide which promise he will have to break.

Robin is still mulling it over when they join the others at the clock tower. _Why is it always the clock tower?_ he wonders. Emma is already there, pensive and pacing like a caged animal ready to pounce. Snow and David as well, though the couple argues in hushed whispers that bounce around the stone walls. He catches snippets of "you're needed here" and "you don't get to decide" and holds Regina's hand a bit tighter, trying to share a smile for the argument they'd shared moments ago. But his queen's mask is in place; staring straight ahead, jaw set tight, steeling herself for what's to come. Henry seems the most prepared of them; a fact that doesn't surprise the archer in the least. The boy wears his coat, backpack, and the same willful determination as his mother—both of them, he mentally corrects, quite the combination in the lad.

When Rumpelstiltskin finally arrives, dagger in hand, his repeated warnings give even Henry pause. "It's going to make you wish for death" the demon reiterates, "and then the realization will hit, that death has already come and this fresh torture is all that's left. It's all you will know, all you will think and feel and you'll forget what it feels like to live, to control your own thoughts, and you'll never know if what you're seeing is real or just the trick of your addled mind." He waves the dagger, mutters a spell and the giant hands of the clock spin backwards faster and faster until they're a blur of black. Then Gold is stepping away. "After you," he bows towards Emma. "Do enjoy your fool's errand." He smiles that sickening smile that makes Emma's skin crawl, but the Savior doesn't balk at his menacing words.

"We'll bring him back," she says confidently, securing gun and sword before stepping through the portal without a moment's hesitation.

Henry is on her heals, sparing a quick glance at his grandfather and trying not to be scared at the genuine fear he sees in the older man's eyes. Regina is clutching at his arm, silently pleading with him once more to stay here, stay safe, even though she knows it's hopeless. "See you on the other side," he kisses her cheek with a wink and hops through the spinning portal as if it were taking him to Disney World and not the depths of an unknown hell. She should have stopped him, but they'd been fighting about it for days and she was impressed (if not slightly terrified) at all the ways he informed her that he could get around her unwanted protections and couldn't fathom how many scenarios her son chose not to share. She couldn't have stopped this if she'd tried.

"Once more into the fray?" David quips as he and Snow join them on the platform, the Prince with a plastered on grin that does nothing to hide his apprehension. He looks at Robin, then Regina; looks hard at Regina, long enough that both Robin and Snow can sense the waited conversation passing between their eyes. Recollection dawns on Robin like a punch in the gut. Regina had uttered those same words in the Enchanted Forest, mumbled them mostly to herself as he stood by her side and they had prepared to charge Zelena's simian army. Then she had gone off alone. After listening to plans, finding holes in battle strategies, letting them all ride out to war, she had frozen them in their boots and disappeared to take on her sister on her own. Once their bonds were released it was three days before they knew if it had been Regina's victory of her death that caused the spell to break.

"Don't you dare," Robin starts, goes to move from his place beside Regina, but finds himself already frozen to the spot. He looks up to see Snow struggling much the same. "Together, Regina!" he screams it at her and doesn't feel the least bit of remorse for the pain he sees in her eyes. Snow is hurling a string of threats and insults that he's sure would surprise him on any other day, but he finds that he's fully behind every one.

"I'm not sorry," Regina's voice is flat, numb. She will not back down from this choice. "Keep your children safe," she's looking at both of them, he and Snow still futilely trying to jerk themselves free. "I love you," she says only to him and Robin feels her lips ghost against his cheek before she backs through the portal. He calls her name again, but it only echoes through the tower. Snow is crying now, he notices, has moved from rage filled threats to tear-streaked begging and he wonders if he'd tried that approach would Regina have released him? Then all of the noise has stopped and David steps through the void, alone. The portal snaps shut behind him and both Robin and Snow fall to the floor.

There's nothing but their heavy breathing for some time, both staring at the spot their counterparts vanished through. There were no words that could give voice to the betrayal they both felt. "They saved you, you know," Gold said quietly from the corner. Both thief and princess had both forgotten he was still there. "True love: it's a funny, twisted little thing." He steps around them, makes his way down the steps and out without another glance back.

* * *

Have faith, my fellow Hoodies. I promise much more Robin then we got on screen. ;) Thoughts?


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello lovelies, I went 'camping' this weekend with my computer, but no wifi, which means I was very bored and very productive. Thank you for reading and please let me know how you feel about where this is going. Best!**

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Regina's foot slipped the instant she stepped through the portal and before she had the chance to process where she was she was shoved back, head bouncing against the hard surface. "Sorry," Emma muttered as she held Regina in place while the portal disappeared into the cliff side. "I'm glad you weren't running. I almost did a swan dive over the side when I jumped through." Emma shrugged her shoulders at Regina's raised eyebrow to her horrible pun, but her annoyance was quickly replaced by panic.

"Where's Henry?" Regina shoved Emma off, eyes frantically scanning the desiccated surroundings as she eased herself to the cliff's edge to look over.

"He's fine, Regina." Emma grabbed her arm, pulling her back to a less treacherous distance and turning her towards the path Henry and David had begun their way down. "I was waiting for you. The portal hadn't shut after David came through and I figured you were saying goodbye to Robin or something."

Regina relaxed at the sight of her son, safe for the time being, but was surprised to see his grandfather with him. "I stepped through before him," she told Emma, shaking her head as she calculated the distance Henry and David had already traveled. "How long was I in there? I couldn't have been more than a minute after you."

"Maybe twenty minutes? David said it got a little heated back there. I figured you were smoothing things over." Emma had no idea how portals worked or what happened when you were inside them. She'd assumed it was something akin to _beam me up, Scottie_ but never spared the time to dwell on it. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Regina still sounded a bit confused about the time delay, but physically she felt fine and chalked it up to another mystery for another day.

"And about leaving Robin?" Emma placed her hand on the solid rock where the portal had been moments before. "Is that okay?" Regina knew what she meant. _Will he forgive you for this?_

"We'll find out when we get back. They're safe, their children will still have parents if we don't get back. I don't regret it." She didn't. Not one bit, except that she was terrified she wouldn't have someone to go back home to. She had betrayed a trust that he'd given so freely and could only hope that Robin would give her the opportunity to earn it back. "I don't know if your parent's annoyingly true love will be enough this time though," she told Emma only half joking. "Snow was pissed."

Emma laughed out loud, it echoed eerily around them. "I can only imagine," she agreed as they carefully made their way along the narrow ledge. "This place is creepy," she said needlessly and received no response from the queen. Both women stood silently for a moment, taking in this new realm. _Creepy_ was an understatement. The land was dead, nothing but rock and ruin for miles in each direction. The roughed out path David and Henry were on was the only evidence that this place was or had ever been inhabited. "Shouldn't there be something here?" Emma asked. "I mean, I wasn't expecting a welcoming party, but…"

"Something," Regina finished for her, turning again in case she had missed any signs of life (or afterlife as the case may be.) There was nothing but black rock and grey sky.

"You don't think Gold sent us somewhere else, do you?" Emma asked.

The thought hadn't crossed Regina's mind, but she certainly wouldn't put it past her former mentor. Still, she felt she had been through enough with the Dark One that he wouldn't send her and her son to rot. She hoped. "No," she managed to sound confident to her own ears. "He has the power of all the Dark Ones, you or I aren't a threat to him anymore." It was logical and it seemed to assure Emma for the moment.

"Are you two coming?" David called from where the path was about to curve out of sight.

"I should've left him too," Regina grumbled as she and Emma jogged, skittering down the path to catch up to their party. She threw her arms around Henry the moment he was in reach, still hating that she hadn't come up with some way of leaving him behind that the boy would ever forgive.

"Relax, Mom. Not my first portal jump." He pealed her off, leaving a hand clasped loosely around her wrist as he led her around the corner. Regina stared at the boy Robin had assured her was already a man and realized that her thief was right: her son was the most prepared and relaxed of them all.

* * *

The harsh landscape fell away to a harsher one as the group wound their way out of the mountain path. "There's your something, Miss Swan," Regina noted as the inhabitants of the Underworld floated around them in varying degrees of transparency.

"Are those…people?" Henry asked, holding a bit more tightly to his mother wrist. For Regina's part, she made no mention of her boy's hesitation. In truth, she was unnerved herself. She'd heard tales of this realm: spirits trapped for eternity, souls damned to exist. But seeing it was still shocking. A pirate—what was left of him and certainly not the one they were looking for—moved past her and Regina secured Henry behind her. They could see clear through the being, only the most basic outlines of his features remained, but even in that there was cruelty. There was a sneer on his face and a maniacal glee in his remaining eye as his blade passed smoothly through Regina's abdomen.

Her hands moved instinctively to the spot where blood should have been pouring out of her, but there was nothing but an acute numbness she couldn't describe. David was calling her name, prying her hands loose while Emma ushered Henry further away from the roaming spirit, her own sword drawn. "I'm fine," Regina spat out, shoving the prince's hands away. Her own lingered another moment as the iciness coursing through her faded away.

"Mom?" Henry's voice was frightened behind her, the same scared tone of a child plagued by too many nightmares. When she turned to him, his face had blanched and there were tears threatening to fall from his wide eyes.

"I'm fine, Henry. I promise." Regina turned her hands up, palms free of the blood that should have covered them. He nodded slowly, jaw set tight against the tremor threatening to break free. It wasn't the first time he'd seen her cut through with a blade, Regina realized as she pulled him into her arms. Their trip to the Author's world may not have had any lasting physical effects, but she often forget that Henry had watched her die, used her spilt blood to save them all. Emma must have been reading her thoughts because when she met Regina's eyes there was an understanding and a grief in them for the child they shared who had been robbed of his childhood. It wasn't the life either woman wanted for her son.

"At least we know they can't hurt us," Emma said once Henry was finally convinced his other mother wasn't going anywhere. "You sure you're okay?" she asked Regina and told herself it was for Henry's benefit.

"It's not something I would like to happen again, but, yes, I'm fine." She kept one arm around Henry, forced the other to remain at her side. "I don't know what good that's going to do. I doubt we can hurt them either. They're already dead." she motioned to the sword Emma still held, ready to strike.

"It makes me feel better," she answered simply.

"Let's get this started so we can get it over with." Regina pulled the locator potion from her pocket and waited as Emma sheathed her sword and pulled Killian's flask out of her bag. The spell worked instantly and the group was practically running to keep up with the enchantment. Emma led the way, silent but for the occasional warning about a shift in terrain or another spirit that might get too close.

"They're getting more solid," David noted after they'd been traveling well over an hour. He pointed out a woman sitting a few feet away, her skirts a deep purple that were pooling around her completely covering the ground. Her hair was gray, but not the shadows of the others they had encountered. She was an old woman, features hardened by life still just as severe in death. David couldn't look away from her.

"Hey," Regina's hand on his shoulder finally turned him. It was only then David realized he had stopped moving. "Do you know her?" Regina asked and David shook his head.

"No. I just feel like I could." He leaned against a rock, continuing to stare at the woman who paid him no mind. "I know, it sounds ridiculous."

"It doesn't. I feel like I recognize every soul we pass." It was easy to talk to David, always had been. Even when they were trying to kill each other there had been a mutual respect and understanding between them. She'd never tell him, but the man was one of the only true friends she'd ever had and she valued him more than she'd ever admit.

"Did you do something to piss off the pirate?" he teased, but couldn't prevent his eyes from flicking to her middle; checking once more that she was truly uninjured.

"I didn't have much use for pirates. Just the one." It hung in the air, her past with Hook that neither would talk about. David respected her privacy. They had all lived their share of separate lives. All that mattered was the here and now and the former Evil Queen that was risking her life to bring a no longer villainous pirate back from hell. "We should go," Regina squeezed his knee, urging David back to his feet, "I don't want Emma and Henry to get too far ahead."

"If you're going through hell, keep going?" David let his hand linger on the small of her back for the second it took her to roll her eyes and walk around him.

"You've been waiting to say that for a while, haven't you?" she laughed. Leave it to David to quote Churchill in the Underworld.

"Regina, one more thing," he stepped around her, blocked her advance on the narrow path. "Thank you," when she tried to brush him off, he brought his hands up to her shoulders and squeezed. "For Snow."

"It was the right thing to do," she told him but thought _I hope you're prepared for the consequences_. "Now walk, Charming or I'm going to leave without you."

* * *

"How dare she!" Snow kicked at the wall where the portal had been, the action sent her sliding across the floor and colliding with the railing. "How dare HE! I'm going to kill him! Did you know she was going to do this?" The irate princess fixed her gaze on Robin who had already gotten to his feet. Her eyes dared him to defy her, but they softened almost instantly when she saw the thief's face.

"None," he replied with barely a whisper. He looked…hurt, Snow decided. None of the anger or betrayal that she was exploding with, just hurt. Robin removed his bow and quiver letting both fall to the floor with a loud clang as they hit the metal. "I'll never understand her incessant need to do everything by herself, to throw her own life to the wind without thinking of the consequences," the anger started to simmer within him when he remembered all the times she'd done this. When he'd seen her body broken and bruised from too many near misses with her sister. How she kept pushing offers of help away again and again. He'd carried her barley conscious through the castle after the last battle before the curse, and only been scolded for it when she woke three days later.

"She never had anyone to help her before," Snow slid down the wall, settled with her knees tucked up under her chin. "She was always alone. With Cora, with my father, and after… She doesn't trust people because people have never been there for her." She looked up at Robin who was still leaning against the wall, his forehead against his arm. "She loves you, you know," Snow said it like a secret she shouldn't share; "so much so I think it scares her sometimes."

Robin laughed, "I was going to say the same to you. About David obviously," he clarified, "but Regina as well. She always speaks of you with this forced irritation, but it's just a mask."

"She's worn many," Snow grabbed Robin's discarded weapons and let the thief pull her to her feet. "David on the other hand," she adjusted her own bow as the pair made their way down the winding staircase, "David will pay for this when he gets back." She tried to sound light hearted, but Robin could easily hear beyond her words. After all they were the same ones his own heart was screaming. _If they come back. Please let them come back._

* * *

"Well that's certainly unexpected," Regina said as she and David came up behind Henry. Emma was a few paces ahead, staring at a tavern that seemed to have sprung up from the ground. The enchanted flask hovered in front of the door. "How is it here?" she asked, mostly to herself and was surprised when Henry answered her.

"It just showed up when you did. Like we could see something there the whole time, but when you got closer it got more solid. And then you caught up and—" He turned to look at Regina who was still staring opened mouth at the building before them. "It's where you were supposed to meet Robin, right? Page 23?"

Her eyes immediately shifted to her son. Of course he would recognize it too. They'd been over the book hundreds of times and that particular page hung framed in her bedroom, taped together as it was. "I was thinking about him," she told Henry as if that were enough of an explanation for the phenomenon, but the boy seemed to understand even if she didn't.

"Do we go in?" Emma asked, pulling the flask from midair and tucking it into her back pocket.

"I'll go," Regina stepped around them all. "It would seem that it was meant for me anyway."

"We go together," David stepped between the two women. "This isn't Storybrooke, or even he Enchanted Forest, Regina. This is hell. It's new to all of us and _none of us_ ," he spoke to her in a way that made it clear she would not be pulling another stunt, "are wandering off alone." Regina stared him down because she had to, but she only held his gaze as long as was necessary for her point to be made: No one, not even the shepherd turned prince turned friend spoke to her like that.

"Fine," she relented. "But I go first." She ignored David's grand sweeping gesture and the knowing smirk that Emma and Henry shared at her expense and flung open the door with her spine as straight as possible.

It was as if she was instantly transported back in time. Everything was exactly the same: the smell, the smoke, the man hunched over the bar shrouded in fairy dust that she would know anywhere. "Robin?" she asked and he turned to her instantly, terror in his every feature.

"Monster!" Robin shouted and dove from the stool as the bar erupted in flames. People were screaming, running every which way and trampling each other to get out of the door. She ran to his side, the smoke was getting worse and they had to get out of here. She had to get him out. It's all she was thinking even as she felt her hand plunge into his chest. Regina's screaming drowned out the rest of the chaos as she stared at Robin's heart in her hand; or rather the jewel adorned hand of the Evil Queen. And then it was dust, ash slipping through her fingers and Robin's head heavy and limp in her lap.

 **Thoughts?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back!**

* * *

No words would come, no sound. In that moment she felt her face spread into the sinister grin she had so often wore, but simultaneously pulled into the silent scream for what she had just done and she couldn't fight against the duality. But she hadn't been alone. Regina was being drug back, legs limp beneath her, back and back until she was out of the tavern, out of the smoke, out of the twisted past. She gulped down air as she looked between Emma and David who each held one of her arms. She let her knees bend, let them lower her to the ground, even let Emma continue to hold her somewhat vertical with strong hands on her shoulders. "What the hell was that?" the Savior asked once Regina had gotten her breathing mostly under control.

"Did you see?" Regina asked, her voice hoarse and weak. "Did you see _her_?"

"There was nothing to see," Emma told her, still holding her shoulders and squeezing every few seconds. "You opened the door and everything turned to smoke." Both women stared at the spot where the building had just stood. There was nothing there but the rock and ash that covered this realm, no evidence that anything ever was. Regina dug her hands into the dirt. _Her_ hands: short bare nails and one simple gold band that had been a gift from her father.

"The Evil Queen, she killed him; I killed him." Regina could feel herself hyperventilating again and she dug her hands more securely into the dirt in an effort to ground herself.

"You didn't kill anyone, Mom." Henry was rubbing her back and dammit she didn't want him to see her like this. "There was no one there to kill. It was just smoke and then nothing. You didn't do anything." Henry leaned more heavily against her back, supporting her while Emma and David grabbed her arms again and pulled her out of the dirt.

She took a couple shaky steps before she allowed her eyes to meet David's. "None of us are wandering off alone," she repeated his words back to him, hoping he heard her gratitude in them.

"You guys, there's something here!" Henry had inched his way toward the spot they'd just pulled Regina from. There was now a large opening in the ground giving way to the darkness below. Emma pulled the flask out, looked between the others and tossed it over the side. It fell quickly, and then stopped: a blue dot hovering somewhere below.

"Okay," Emma said already thinking 10 steps ahead. "How do we get down there?"

"Steps," Regina answered as she waved her hand in a circle causing stones to protrude and spiral down the side.

"Cool," Henry was already on the third tier before Regina acknowledged the curious expressions of the other adults.

"What?" she asked innocently. "I didn't want prisoners to be able to climb out of my dungeons." She descended quickly, making sure there was never more than one step between her and Henry. She could feel Emma and David practically at her heels and heard the steps retreating back into the walls above them. That was a feature her dungeons didn't have, but no one had ever dared follow the Evil Queen into the black pits.

They traveled quickly, the glow from the spell getting brighter as the light from above faded. "Do you think that whole smoke and mirrors trick up there was a way to guard this place?" the prince asked anyone that was listening. "Or some kind of marker?" He stepped more down more quickly as the step beneath him began to retract, urging the others with a hand on their backs.

"It's seems likely, but next time I would appreciate a sign that says 'Turn Here'," Regina grumbled. She was nowhere near over what had just happened on the surface, but Regina would deal with that later. Right now it was time to put the armor back on and get this crusade over with.

"Agreed," Emma said, "but I don't think we're going to get that lucky." She was inches from the flask, but when she reached for it, it plunged even further down until it was once again only a faint dot. She looked up to see the muted sky was barely visible.

"How far down do we chase that thing?" David asked as he tried to gauge how far down they had already traveled.

Emma was surprised that the question had come from her father (he was the one urging them faster after all), even more surprised with Regina's "until it stops. At least there aren't any sword wielding ghosts down here," she rationalized as she side-stepped and let David take the lead. When they'd gone low enough to begin losing the light, Emma's palms erupted with a force that almost blinded them. "Careful, Emma!" Regina scolded, covering her eyes while the blonde got the spell under control.

"Sorry," the light finally settled to a soft glow around them. "I don't know what happened."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think it was _entirely_ your fault. We're getting close to something; I can feel dark mag—" Regina collided with David's back, arms darting behind her to make sure Henry didn't topple over the edge. The prince had come to a dead stop in front of them, his hand shaking violently as he reached for the handle of the door that had appeared out of nowhere. "David, wait!" Regina pulled his arm back, snaking herself around his body until the knob was pressed securely into her back.

"It's the loft," he whispered.

"I know. But it's not. It's another trick, or marker, or whatever these things are. Were you thinking about her?" she asked and received no reaction. "David! Just now, were you thinking about Snow?" He finally nodded, and looked down at the brunette still steadfastly blocking his way. She had been thinking about Robin, he realized. Before this hell made her believe she'd killed him. "It isn't real. Whatever happens isn't real."

"We're right behind you," Emma's hand was planted firmly between his shoulder blades, her other gripped her son's arm. Regina turned to the side, wedging herself against the wall so David could open the door. He had prepared himself for any number of tortures when is hand closed around the knob and slowly turned. David took one last slow breath before crossing the threshold into his home. Nothing happened. Nothing greeted him but the familiar squeak of the floor boards and the quiet tick of the clocks that adorned the shelves.

"Well that was anti-climactic," Regina came in behind him and began searching the loft. "Try all the doors," she instructed the group and they set about opening closets and cabinets, searching for anyway out.

"Did it send us back home?" Henry asked as he opened a cabinet that revealed nothing but canned goods.

"This definitely isn't Storybrooke, kid," Emma called from upstairs. She stood in front of the closet door that opened into another winding cavern; this one crawling with the souls of the dead. Henry bounded up the stairs to the room that would have been his had this actually been the Charming's loft. David was headed after him, his body radiating relief that he hadn't had to go through what Regina had, when the brunette halted him at the bottom of the stairs.

"I need him to stay here," Regina practically begged. "There's something out there, I can feel it, and I don't want him anywhere near it. He can't go through anything like what happened up there. David, please. I don't care what you have to tell him, just convince him that you two need to stay here." The latter part of her plea came out in a whispered rush as Henry leaned over the railing, calling for them to come see what Emma had found.

"We'll be right there, we found something down here too," David pulled Regina toward the bedroom he shared with Snow, heading straight for the closet and digging quickly through boxes stacked there. "Let it be here," he hoped, turning to Regina with a self-satisfied smile when he pulled Henry's storybook from the bottom box. "It's where Snow found it the first time," he told her. "Who knows, it might actually be helpful."

"Sometimes you impress me, Charming," Regina smiled. "Sometimes." She headed upstairs to send Henry down so she and Emma could slip away when David grabbed her hand.

"You're trusting me to keep your child safe, Regina; I'm trusting you to do the same for me." It was often easy for others to forget that the blonde pair were father and daughter instead of just trusted friends, but David never forgot, never once looked at the woman Emma was without seeing the baby he'd held, if only for a moment.

"That's a deal I can make." She squeezed his arm before passing Henry on the stairs. The boy was flipping through the volume before Regina made it to the top of the loft and let herself relax, if only slightly.

Emma was waiting for her just outside the closet door. "They're staying?" she asked as Regina joined her, the brunette nodding in response. "I feel like we're walking into some twisted version of Narnia. Who hides a path to the center of hell in our son's closet?"

"I have a feeling we're about to find out," Regina said as she tried to shake the feeling that everything was about to go horribly wrong.

* * *

"Any sign of anything?" Robin asked as he and Roland slid into the booth across from Snow. He'd collected his children the moment he and Snow had left the clock tower, not seeing the point in leaving them to wait if he wasn't going to be going anywhere. When he'd shown up without Regina, Roland let him have it and had continued his father's punishment with the silent treatment and long pointed glares that Robin would chuckle at if his boy hadn't been so serious about his displeasure. His baby girl was none the wiser (although Roland assured him that she too was angry with him) and seemed content to have been swept up in Granny's arms the moment he entered her establishment. Robin was sure he wouldn't see her again for some time as the older woman had taken quite the shining to the town's newest addition. It put him at ease; if Granny liked you, you were at least protected and with the child's not so secret parentage, her father would take any help he could in having her accepted.

Snow was picking at the French fries on her plate. It had been roughly 8 hours—actually it had been 7 hours, 42 minutes and 18 seconds, 19, 20—since her husband, daughter, grandson, and step-mother jumped through a portal to hell. Not that she was counting. "Nothing," she finally answered Robin, still not looking up from her plate of now cold food. "Although I don't really know what to be looking for. I'd like to think I'd _feel it_ if something happened to any of them, but I don't even know where they went or if they got there at all."

"I know how you feel," Robin slid a chocolate milkshake over to Roland. It was a bribe, but the child's anger was undeterred even by the mouth full ice cream. Robin simply sighed and turned his attention back to the princess. "I asked Tinkerbelle to look into a way we might be able to reach them or help them get back. She and the fairies are looking into it."

"Thank you. Belle is looking as well. I just feel so useless!" Neal chose that moment to wail beside her and Snow scooped him out of is carrier and into her arms, slipping the bottle into his mouth without a thought.

"I think," Robin began as he gestured toward the child happily eating, "that is being quite useful. And I think that's what they wanted." Snow's eyes met him with a glare that rivaled Roland's. "Don't get me wrong, Snow, I'm still bloody furious with them and I intend on having a very _very_ long argument with Regina when she gets back. But I understand why they did it."

"So do I. It almost makes it worse doesn't it? You want to just be pissed off, but you know they left us here out of love. To protect us. So you really can't be upset at _that,_ which makes me even more pissed." Snow started cracking up at her own twisted logic and then at the face Roland was giving her as he tried to wrap his head around the adult conversation going on around him. "We can't be mad at people for loving us," she told the boy. "Regina loves you and she loves your papa and she wanted him to be able to take care of you and your sister." Robin wanted to tell Snow that he had already explained that to his son a dozen times, but hearing it from someone else seemed to make all the difference.

"Are we going to help Gina come back?" he asked his father, eyes now wide and shining with new purpose.

Robin shared a grateful glance with Snow before turning his full attention his boy. "Of course we are, Roland. We just have to keep an eye out so we know exactly what kind of help Regina needs." They both talked to the boy for a while, keeping things light, keeping their minds off what was most likely happening to the ones they loved. And it was almost working until Tink burst through the door with a heavy black book in her hand and a frightened expression on her face. "What did you find?" Robin was already on his feet by the time the fairy reached their booth, urging her into the seat he'd abandoned.

"Roland, I need you to come help me with your sister," Granny hollered from behind the counter and Robin was never more appreciative of the woman's wolf-like instincts than in that moment as Roland bounded over the fairy and disappeared into the kitchen; eager to come to his sister's feigned aid.

"What is it, Tink?" Snow asked as the fairy opened the book between them.

"It's called the Alp. And as far as we can tell, it's the current ruler of that realm."

"The Alp is a children's story," Robin criticized. "My Uncle plied me with stories of the goat-like creature and his magical hat that would sneak in through a key hole or a crack in the wall. It was an effective tool in convincing me to keep his room tidy or go to bed on time, but nothing more."

"Robin _Hood_ ," Snow interrupted his recollection. She was sliding the book back across the table to him, finger taping on an image that looked far more deadly than is youthful mind ever conjured. "We're all children's stories."

 **Thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh Gods, I'm trying to write Hook again. Pray to whomever you pray to that this isn't horrific.**

* * *

He was lying on the deck, the boards beneath him as familiar as any home he's ever known. The sea air blowing through the sails above him, the waves breaking against the hull below were the constant lullaby that sung him to sleep. But sleep never came. He was alone, abandoned, captain of a ship with no crew left to command; adrift on an ocean he had no chart to navigate. It would be over soon, this particular nightmare, it would dissolve into another and another. She would be there at times, moments when he would feel her pressed against him, hear her scream as she was ripped away, as she killed him, as he killed her. Over and over, never ending.

Killian had lost count of how long he'd been here. Not that it really mattered that much. He was dead, and apparently this was what had always been waiting for him on the other side. Sins of the past and all that; and the pirate had certainly done his share of dastardly deeds in his day. Emma was safe though, her family, her boy. He would endure this eternal torture by holding to that knowledge. He felt the shift in the dream before he saw it. The gentle rocking of the sea ceased, the smooth decking at his back replaced by jagged rocks; he didn't bother shifting his body to find a more comfortable position. The ground would only twist and turn to betray him once again. He moved an arm over his eyes when the blue sky turned a blinding white, then burst into flames.

Hook rolled then, letting the thick leather of his coat protect his flesh from the fire that rained down. His mind knew that in all reality no more damage could come to his body. Being run through by the sword of the Dark One had been the final blow, but instinct was still there to protect, to stay alive even if one was already dead.

Someone was pulling at the arm he had covering the back of his head, but Hook had already decided to sit this particular enactment out. He knew what was coming. Emma. Emma would be there, would roll him to his back, kiss him fiercely. Her magic would squelch the flames and she would use the Apprentice's wand to open a portal to their escape. Except he would end up going through without her, or the flames would return and he would watch her fight against them until she was consumed, or he would rise too soon, turn to fast and his hook would sink into her flesh and she would die with her blood warm on his hands. So, no, he wasn't playing this time around no matter how hard she pulled on his arm, kicked at his ribs, screamed "damn you Guy Liner" and "I'll turn you into the handless wonder" in to his ear—

"Regina?" he rolled, grabbing her ankle before it once again collided with his rib cage, pulling her down and rolling over her in one smooth move.

"Get off of me!" she struggled beneath him.

"Do you want to burn, love? Hold still!" he pinned her more fully, snaking a hand under her head to hold her just above the rock.

"Where am I? Where's my son!" Regina was clawing at him, squirming in his hold. Killian's heart ached for her; she obviously had no idea why she was here.

"I haven't seen your boy, Regina and I've no idea what brought you here. But _here_ , is hell. You've died, love." And then he added with genuine sincerity, "I'm sorry."

"I'm not dead, you idiot." Regina got her leg around his calf and rolled them both, straddling him as she sent her magic into the fiery sky. She didn't address him again until the sky turned dark and ash fell like rain. "I am well aware I'm in hell, we came here to rescue your sorry ass. What I don't know is why I'm here and my son, and Emma and David are not. So are you going to lie there or are you going to help me so we can both get out of here!"

"I'd love to, Your Majesty," he smiled at her, allowing the hope she brought to sink in, praying to whatever was left that it wasn't in vain. "But you'll need to get off of me first," Hook oofed as Regina pushed against his chest, rolling her eyes as she got to her feet. The pirate reached up for a hand that she never extended to him, before rolling to his feet unassisted. She was pacing, but there was nowhere to go, no way out that he had yet to find. "How did you get here?"

"Portal," she answered shooting fireballs in every direction and watching them fade from view. "I went through last."

"You're the only one that came _here_ ," Killian told her.

"I can see that!" she snapped, inadvertently launching the flame in his direction. It fizzled out before colliding with his chest. "I didn't stop that," Regina whispered, every sense on alert as her eyes again swept the horizon.

"No, Your Majesty, that would be me." The voice came from all around them. A blue light erupted from the ground, wrapping around her and squeezing hard. Killian slashed at the tendrils, grasped at the pulsing veins of it that were wrapping around her throat, but his hook and his hand passed right through. The last thing Regina heard was Killian's cried out apologies before her world went black.

* * *

Emma and Regina made their way slowly through the winding tunnel that led out of the Charming's loft. It was dark, nothing but a black abyss lit only by the fire burning in Regina's palm. They were miles below the surface, trekking through tunnels carved out of black stone. They followed the narrow tunnel, Emma's hand on Regina's shoulder so they wouldn't lose each other in the dark. They veered left, then right, left again until Emma was certain they were going in circles, but at least they were going uphill and somehow that was more comforting than working their way deeper beneath the earth. The steady incline had their calves burning before long, the gravely trail crunching beneath their boots was a constant steady rhythm as they walked and walked.

Regina kept her hand that wasn't lighting their way secured to the wall. The rock was smooth under her finger tips, the familiar feeling of the tunnels that ran under her castle was pulling her mind to places she couldn't afford to think about right now. This place was getting to her: the endless darkness, the twisted mind games, and that _feeling_ in her gut that wouldn't go away. Something was wrong, pulling at her, at her magic, but she couldn't give it a name. She was about to ask Emma if she could feel it too when her next step down met nothing but air. She toppled forward, knees hitting and sliding, but the angle was too steep and she couldn't stop her body from pitching forward or Emma from falling after her. Both women slid down, grasping futilely at the crumbling floor, at each other's flailing limbs. Emma had somehow managed to grab onto Regina's wrist in the dark and they held tight for a few seconds before the queen crashed into unyielding rock and Emma's hand was wretched away.

* * *

Everything hurt. The pain was the first thing that Emma registered after she had finally stopped falling. It felt like minutes of endless descent had passed since she was pulled away from Regina. She got to her knees slowly, her body protesting every move, but she couldn't stay here. She had to find Hook. She had to find "Regina!," she yelled into the emptiness around her as she scanned every direction for any sign of the queen. It was only then that Emma realized she could see her surroundings; she'd somehow fallen out of the darkness and into an eerie twilight. The ground had also changed, gravel giving way to smooth polished stone. There was an open chamber in front of her, she could see people moving about—most likely more spirits, she thought—behind her were 7 archways each surrounded by darkness. She assumed she had toppled out of one of them, but Emma had no idea which one.

She felt the heat, seconds before she saw the flame, ducking just as the fireball scorched past her. "Subtle, Regina," she said to herself as she slowly made her way back into the tunnel. The darkness enveloped her instantly and although she knew the cavern was only steps behind her she could see no trace of it. She took a step, digging her feet as firmly into the loose ground as possible, then another and one more before she was sliding back down. "You're going to have to come down here," she said aloud, knowing Regina couldn't hear her, but it was too quiet and she needed to hear something even if it was her own voice. "Shit!" she yelled this time as the next fireball barely missed her. Had that one come from behind? She dove left as another one appeared at her right. She was disoriented, turning and reaching, yet finding nothing but black. Emma raised her hands and sent her light flying. It traveled practically straight up, illuminating the sharp path of her descent until it faded from view.

* * *

"Emma!" Regina's shout bounced around the cavern. She had crashed hard into a bolder that split the path, but Emma had kept sliding into the darkness. There was no sound but her frantically beating heart. "Emma!" she called again, inching around the bolder to try to see anything in the darkness below. Regina brought fire back to her palm (ignored the fact that it took her three times to produce the flame as well as the scraped and bloodied hand its light revealed) and tossed it down the path she believed Emma had slid. Nothing. She sent another and another until her head was pounding and dizziness forced her to her knees, both hands tightly gripping the rock for balance.

She needed to get out of here, but she didn't trust her magic to transport her back to David and Henry. Not that she could return without Emma anyway, neither man would ever forgive her. Hell, she wouldn't forgive herself. "Emma Swan!" she yelled again, hating the way her voice sounded panicked and pained as it ricocheted around her, but that was exactly how she felt. She was inching her way back to her feet when the chamber was suddenly filled with blinding light. Regina buried her eyes in her sleeve, blinking slowly as the light dimmed and her eyes adjusted. When she could focus again there was a soft white orb hovering beside her and she had never been more grateful for the Savior's beautiful, reckless magic.

The moment she touched it Regina felt herself being transported. It was an odd sensation when you weren't the one controlling the destination, but she had no choice but to trust Emma to lead her out of this maze. Seconds later she was face to face with the blonde in an open, airy chamber, both simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief. "You okay?" Emma asked although she could see that Regina had faired about as well as she had, scrapes and cuts covering every exposed surface.

"Mostly in one piece," Regina answered, trying to look like she wasn't nursing cracked or broken ribs and a most definitely dislocated shoulder from when Emma had fallen away. "You?" she asked. Emma only nodded, her magic healing her own skin with only the slight bend of her fingers. Not for the first time, Regina was envious of the younger woman's power. Healing had never been her forte, especially not for herself. She turned to survey their new surroundings as Emma finished healing her own injuries. "Where did we come out?" she asked.

"Second one from the right, next time you might want to send something other than fireballs though," Emma answered casually, checking herself over to make sure everything was sufficiently repaired.

Regina merely raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders, gritting her teeth against the pain the motion caused. "It got the job done," she joked, but Emma could tell she was truly grateful for the rescue.

"Are you going to let me fix your ribs or do you just plan on holding them in place for the rest of the trip?" Emma was already moving toward her, light magic ready to go, but she waited for Regina's consent. A very subtle nod was enough for Emma to go on as she placed her hands loosely on Regina's waist and let her power do its thing.

They both winced at the audible pop, as Regina's shoulder was set back into place, but the relief instantly showed on the brunette's face. "Thank you," she whispered, stretching out her arms and waist as Emma reigned her magic back in.

"So, straight on 'til morning?" Emma pointed them toward the roaming spirits ahead, continuing on as if she hadn't just done something incredibly difficult. Regina realized then, that Emma probably didn't see healing as any more difficult than lighting a candle. One of the many differences between Emma's light and her own dark. Where Regina could snap someone's neck with a flick of her wrist, Emma could save their life.

"Seems like a much better prospect than back," Regina agreed as they made their way into what seemed to be another winding path, but at least this one was well lit and wide enough for them to walk side by side. Even if it was more inhabited than their previous location, the spirits weren't attacking them. In fact, only a few showed even a casual interest in their presence, eyeing them curiously, or reaching out a phantom hand to try and touch.

"Why the loft? Why our home?" Emma asked absently as she side-stepped yet another trapped soul. Regina didn't answer, she didn't care. She just wanted to get out of here, out of this maze of souls—too many of which she had sent here. Emma hadn't stopped talking since they'd left the dark tunnels; a constant stream of meaningless conversation that Regina couldn't have participated in if she had tried. Emma had barely taken a breath. The blonde had thanked her for tricking Henry into stay back, for coming with her, for teaching her magic, and convincing her to buy more fashionable shoes before switching to theories about this realm, the constant smell in the air, the shade of the sky, the varying solidity of the spirits…

Regina stopped abruptly, pulling Emma off the path, crossing her arms and facing her. "Spill it, Swan."

Emma was silent for seconds, looking questioningly at Regina. "Spill what?" she feigned an ignorance she knew Regina saw right through, but she couldn't stop talking. "It's just this place, you know? It's unsettling. Can you feel it?"

She could. Of course she could. Her magic was restless, cresting and abating through her; it made her restless, overly cautious. Dark magic was getting closer and closer; she could feel it wrapping around her, squeezing tighter with every step they took. But that wasn't what was bothering her friend. "Emma." There was more weight in that word than the Savior could hold so she let Regina carry some of her burden.

"I'm scared, Regina. What if my heart isn't strong enough to save him? I know I love him, but what if that's not enough?" It was coming out like a flood, every insecurity she hadn't let herself feel (let alone voice) until now. "What if I get to him and this doesn't work and I've put all of you through this HELL for nothing! What if he still can't come back and—"

"Emma, shut up!" Emma's mouth clamped instantly, but Regina continued. "The man died for you; he let you run him through with a sword that held all the darkness in the universe. He's waited for you, chased after you. He loves you, you love him. It will be enough."

"Okay," the blonde answered. "When you put it like that," she smiled to Regina, the nerves were still there, but the brunette was right: their love would be enough. It had to be. They continued their exploration in comfortable silence, each taking turns in steering the other away from the edge, urging faster or slower to avoid a spirit that was getting uncomfortable close. There was no sign of Killian, no sign of anything that would indicate they were even traveling in the right direction. Unless of course you counted the fact that Regina felt consistently worse with each step further into the caves.

It was another 10 minutes before Emma finally broke the silence. "What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know." Regina held her head with one hand, Emma's shoulder with the other to keep her balance. "It's been getting worse ever since we came out of the dark tunnels. Something isn't right."

* * *

 **Stick around, I promise everything will make sense eventually. Thank you for coming on the journey with me.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello lovelies, Welcome back! This chapter gave be all kinds of grief. Its the 'I need to tie everything I wrote into all the stuff I've already written' chapter. It got a bit dark, but nothing extreme. Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think. Reviews make me smile. :)**

* * *

David sat at the kitchen island with his grandson, the storybook that narrated their lives spread between them, but the Prince found he couldn't focus on the pages. This whole place was just…off. He couldn't explain it. There was an odd comfort in being in this familiar place (the chair in the corner bore his imprint; his coffee cup resting beside the sink where Snow would chastise him for never putting it away.) But they weren't in Storybrooke. This was the Underworld. His home replicated and inserted into a hellish labyrinth and he couldn't find a reason for it.

He kept looking up to the loft, to the door that Emma and Regina had left through. It had only been an hour, he shouldn't expect them to be back yet, but David kept checking regardless. "Grandpa, what's this?" Henry was pulling on his arm, pointing to a page neither of them had seen before. "This never happened. Why is this in here? I never did that?" Henry's voice cracked in his rush to explain away what he was looking at. The picture was spread over two pages. His younger self yelling, fist balled as his sides in rage. Emma is holding a sword ready to swing, his mother tied to a dying apple tree with tears running down her face. "What is this?" Henry asked again fighting tears as he stared at the desperation on his mother's face.

David put his arm around Henry's shoulders. "It's a nightmare," he said slowly, piecing it all together. "It's one of your Mother's nightmares, Henry. It was a long time ago." David remembers when Regina had told him about that particular horror. Back when they were sent to the Enchanted Forest, when they would sneak to the cellars at night, drink wine and whiskey and talk until whatever demons plagued their sleep were quieted. "She never blamed you for anything," David was quick to explain. "It was right after Emma came, she was just afraid of losing you. We can't control how our dreams play out."

Henry nodded as he flipped through more pages. David stopped him when he recognized another. There he was in pen and ink dancing with his daughter, on the next page she was being ripped away from him. He couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through him at the memory of the dream: the inadequacy, the helplessness, the failure. His reaction wasn't lost on Henry. "Mom doesn't blame you either, you know," Henry assured.

"I know," David turned the page on his nightmare. "Let's see if there's anything that's actually helpful in here, shall we?" He turned ahead several pages, flipped past more illustrations.

"I know we're not staying here to be helpful," Henry eyed him sideways. "I know you're doing this because one or both of my moms made you promise to keep me here while they went out there." He pointed to the place David kept looking.

"It _is_ helpful if they don't have to worry about you while they're doing whatever they're doing out there." David looked sympathetically at his grandson. He knew the boy wanted nothing more than to be a hero and while David was sure his time would come, he was going to keep him from the perils that accompanied heroics as long as possible.

Henry only sighed and turned his attention back to the book. There were more memories, pictures of his mothers, family, friends; he never looked too closely, didn't want to intrude on thoughts that weren't meant for anyone to see. It was when he got towards the back of the book that things started looking familiar. Very familiar. "This is us," Henry said, bringing David's attention back to the pages. "This is us here!" he turned the page to see them all on the path that led from the portal, and the phantom pirate who's blade had sliced through his mother. The next page showed Regina in the tavern, her features merged with those of the Evil Queen and Robin dead in her lap.

"What is that?" David asked, pointing to the blue lines wrapping around Regina's arm. "Go back." Henry did. The blue was on the previous page as well, fainter but there. He turned back to the page that showed their arrival. "Henry, your grandmother keeps a magnifying glass in—" David didn't have to finish. Henry was already returning to the counter, magnifier in hand, and the both leaned closer to look at the page through the glass.

"There!" Henry pointed to Regina's hand. It was barely there, the faintest hint of blue wrapping around her wrist. "You need to go help them."

"Henry, we don't know what that is. I don't even know _where_ they are." David was weighing his options. His gut was telling him that something was very wrong, that Emma and Regina had no idea what they were walking into and that he should, in all logic, go find them and relay this new information. He also knew that Regina would rip him to shreds if he found them unharmed and knew he had left Henry alone.

"I'll stay here. I swear," Henry pleaded. "Right here." He put his feet up on the stool next to him, his hands behind his head and tried to look relaxed.

"If they're not back in another hour—" David started.

"That's not good enough!" Henry lurched forward practically falling off the stool in the process.

"If they're not back in another hour we both go," David placed a firm hand on Henry's knee to keep in place. "One hour." They both looked at the clock then back to the book, searching for any other traces of the blue wisps, but they seemed only to be attached to Regina. "What is this?" he asked absently. Nothing in the book was ever insignificant.

* * *

The only thing she could tell about where she was is that it wasn't where she had been seconds ago. The pirate was gone, as was the endless prison and fiery sky. She was standing on wood, on a platform. And she was outside. The sun was beating down on her skin, her arms and face tingling with the burn that would soon come. It was when she went to shield her eyes, Regina realized she couldn't move. Her arms were pinned behind her, another binding just above her knees, and her magic…she couldn't feel her magic.

"Regina Mills you are sentenced to die," Charming declared and the crowd cheered. They cheered and Regina's blood ran cold. The courtyard of the castle, the memories came flooding back to her, the courtyard of the Charming's castle. She was tied to a steak and they were all there awaiting her execution. She squinted against the sun, followed David's voice until she found him standing in front of an elaborate thrown, Snow to his right, Emma to his left, and Henry. _Oh god, please not Henry_. She forced her eyes away from her son, made them see the other faces in the crowd. Everyone she had ever known was there, everyone she had dared called a friend, everyone she had foolishly let herself love. It was impossible, rationally she knew that all these people from all these points in her too long life couldn't possibly be here, but the sun was burning and the ropes were chafing and everything was so very real.

David was listing her crimes, but his voice was drowned out by the blood pulsing in her ears. Her eyes settled once more on her son. _Henry don't look,_ she silently pleaded _, Please, please, my little Prince, don't look._ But he just stared at her, they all did, eyes cold and unforgiving. What had she done? What could she possibly have done for her baby boy to look at her with such disdain?

 _David, why are you doing this? We're friends! You forgave me years ago! David!_ She was screaming, begging for her life, but no sound would come. Her voice taken by the dark magic that held her in place. "Archer, as you will," David gestured to his right, a slight bow given toward the center of the arena. The steady cheers and rumblings of the crowd silenced in anticipation. She didn't want to look, didn't need to look. There was only one archer, only one that would be appropriate to deliver her this final justice. Their eyes met only seconds before his arrow buried itself deep within her chest. The hatred in his eyes was far more painful than the fatal blow.

"Robin!" Regina's eyes shot open on a scream she barely registered as her own. She was in her bed gasping for air, pulling at the blankets that felt too much like the ropes that had just held her in place. The room was dark, cold, the window wasn't where it should have been and panic once again set in.

"It's alright Your Majesty."

Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back to the mattress. Her mind settled slowly as his fingers began weaving through her hair. She _was_ in her room, just not in Storybrooke. Her eyes adjusted to the stone walls of her chambers, the outline of her balcony where the moonlight was filtering in. She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in to his chest. His arms were around her instantly, rubbing up and down her back, then rolling them so she lay over his chest. "We shouldn't be here," she whispered against his skin. "This isn't right. We went back to Storybrooke. I don't know what's happening." Regina couldn't help the tears that slipped from her eyes. He always brought her vulnerability out, made her feel safe enough to share her fears.

"It was just a dream, Your Majesty," Robin's reply was robotic. "Go back to sleep."

She stiffened in his arms. This wasn't right. "Why are you calling me that?" she asked hesitantly.

"You won't allow me to call you anything else, Your Majesty." Same dead voice, same stiff comfort.

"But you never listened," Regina held herself tighter against him. "Why aren't we in Storybrooke?" she was afraid of his answer, more afraid of the silence that met her as she pressed her ear to his chest.

"You destroyed Storybrooke, Your Majesty. And everyone in it." He said it like he was telling her the weather: no emotion, no judgement, no control. She scrambled away from him, wrapping her robe tightly around her as she made her way to the balcony. It wasn't real, none of this was real. She wouldn't have destroyed her town; she wouldn't have…she _never_ would have taken Robin's heart. This wasn't real. He joined her on the balcony, was watching her curiously as he leaned against the doorway. Her heart beat fast enough for the both of them as she took cautious steps back and back until she was pressed against the railing. It was Robin's voice, Robin's arms, but not his eyes. Robin's eyes never looked at her that way; it sent shivers down spine. She needed to wake up.

"This isn't real. This can't be real." Regina never looked away as she took another step back and fell from the edge.

* * *

"You've been off since we got out of those tunnels," Emma grabbed Regina's bicep, steadying the brunette as her next step swayed a bit too much for the blonde's liking. "I don't think it's from the fall. Something's messing with you."

"You think?" Regina snapped, but instead of recoiling Emma just firmed her grip. "I'm sorry," Regina winced as she forced herself to straighten up. "Let's just keep going."

"Should you really keep going if you can't even walk in a straight line?" Emma asked, guiding Regina through the center of the cavern.

"It's not affecting you, is it? Your magic? You don't feel any of this?" Regina tried to keep the irritation out of her voice, reminded herself that it wasn't Emma's fault that her shiny light magic was immune to whatever was down here that made her feel like she been hit by a truck, while suffering from the flu during the worst hangover of her life.

"No," Emma answered sympathetically. She noticed that Regina hadn't yet shrugged her arm off and that alone told her exactly how horrible the other woman was feeling. They walked few more minutes in silence before a fireball came barreling towards them. Emma lunged to the side pulling Regina with her as the heat spread across their faces before dissipating somewhere in the distance. "That looked suspiciously like one of yours," Emma was confused, remembering the same weapon that had almost scorched her earlier.

"Except I obviously didn't do it." Regina stopped walking again; she was turning in slow circles trying to get some sense of where the flame had come from or where it had gone, but the expanse of the cavern made it nearly impossible to even tell which end was up. That's when she realized the emptiness around them. "Where did everybody go?" she asked Emma, the blonde seeming to notice the same moment she did. They were completely alone, spirits that had been milling about vanished into the air as the fire flew by. The rocky ceiling fizzled and cracked above them, transforming into a crystal clear blue sky, the ground into a grass-lined sidewalk.

"What the hell?" Emma asked as she took in their new surroundings. "This is the park in Stor—" The words died on her tongue when she saw him walking towards her, sauntering really, a wide grin on his face. "Killian!" Emma released Regina's arm and ran towards him, not hearing Regina's warnings to wait nor feeling her friend's futile attempts at holding her back. She'd found him, or rather he had found her or they had found each other, but none of that mattered. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to be in his arms, to taste his kiss, to know that this journey had been worth every risk.

She practically knocked them both to the ground when she reached him, throwing herself into his waiting arms. He let her momentum spin them both before placing her back to her feet, but keeping his arms looped around her back. "Hello, Swan. It's good of you to come."

"I couldn't leave you here. I couldn't just let you go. Not when there's a chance you can come back. It'll work, we can be together." It was all tumbling out of her, emotion that she couldn't hold in. Killian just stared at her, unable to look away or to control the smile pulling at his face. When moments passed and Emma realized that all the words she was prattling weren't necessary at all, she ran her fingers through the hair at his nape, pulled him to her and kissed him fiercely.

They lingered like that way, trading soft, lazy kisses until Regina cleared her throat, loudly. She had made her way down the path and sat on the park bench, legs and arms crossed as she simply stared at the couple that was completely oblivious to her presence. She'd been privy to the entire reunion and fought hard to mask her happiness for the couple with her usual annoyance. "You knew we were coming?" she raised an eyebrow to the pirate once he and Emma had come up for air.

"Aye. You told me you'd all come through a portal to rescue me. I must know love," he turned towards Regina, but kept both arms around Emma, "how did you escape it?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't escape anything." She brushed it off, didn't want to think about the ramifications of what the pirate was saying. Not now at least, and not here. They needed to get back to Henry. Then she could think. "If you knew we were coming you could have sent up a flare or something. It would have saved a lot of time." She rolled her eyes and started making her way back the way they had come, at least the way she thought they had come. The ever changing landscape made it near impossible to tell.

But the pirate wasn't content to let the issue drop. "You were here, Regina. Not that long ago, hours at best. You were here and it took you."

" _It_ obviously didn't take me anywhere," she corrected. "I think I would have noticed if I'd been somewhere else."

"I know what I saw, Your Majesty. I've got the bruises to prove it." Killian pulled his shirt aside revealing the swollen skin and forming bruises that Regina's boot had left. An unease spread through Regina, despite how insane it sounded, she knew Killian was telling the truth.

"Wait," Emma grabbed his shirt before he could pull it back into place. "You're not hurt." She ignored the fresh bruises, pulling his shirt further up. "I stabbed you through the chest and you're not hurt."

"Yes, well, apparently death heals those pesky injuries," Hook mused as he tried to figure out what had Emma so confused.

"No," Regina was moving back to them, leaning in to inspect the unmarred flesh of the pirate's abdomen. "It doesn't." She shared a long look with Emma. "Looks like you'll get to keep your heart in one piece after all, Miss Swan."

"Would someone care to explain to me what's going on?" Hook looked between both women who were having a very in-depth conversation with only their eyes; a conversation about him that he was feeling very left out of.

"You're not dead," Emma looked at him, her eyes welling with tears as she once again took him in her arms.

"I appreciate the sentiment, love, but how am I not?" Hand and hook caressed her back as he tried to memorize every feeling in case it was taken from him again.

"There are a lot of dead people here. They all look very…well, very dead," Regina explained. When Hook only raised an eyebrow at her she did her best to elaborate through the pounding pain in her head. "They look how they did when they died: missing limbs, holes you can see through, bodies wasted away. _You_ look like you've been in a bar fight, not skewered by Excalibur."

"Whatever Gold did to enchant the sword must have had some sort of preservation spell attached or maybe something here healed you or…I don't know, but you're not dead, Killian. And we can go home." Emma was pulling at his arms, gripping his hook in her hand.

 _Don't think you are taking my new toy just yet, Savior._ The voice echoed around them and Regina's blood ran cold. She knew that voice; it was as familiar to her as her own although she'd never heard it before.

"Get us out of here, love." Hook released Emma only to stop Regina from crumbling to the ground. Emma didn't question: magic was instinct, magic was reaction. The trio was swept up in a white cloud seconds before the sky once again erupted in flame.

* * *

It had been an hour. Fifty eight minutes to be exact and Henry has his backpack ready to go. He's sitting on the top step to the loft, staring from his watch to his grandfather to the door his mothers went through as the seconds tick by. David checked his gun for what must have been the tenth time in an hour. They never should have separated. Each minute that passed made his heart beat faster. His daughter was out there with his best friend and he was here. He was entrusted with the most important thing to both of them, but still, the prince felt utterly useless.

"It's time!" Henry shouted, already at the door to the caves when he saw the white cloud billowing out in the distance. "Grandpa they're back!" He was halfway out the door as David grabbed his pack pulling him back. He could just barely make out the blonde head of his daughter, the pirate beside her and the slumped form that could only be Regina between them.

"Dad?" Emma's voice echoed through the cavern.

"Stay here," David put his hands on Henry's shoulders, backing him further into the room.

"But—" the boy began. That was his family out there after all.

"Henry, please!" David shouted and his grandson immediately sat on the edge of the bed. David had never raised his voice to him before. He would apologize later, he told himself as he raced to meet the rest of their party.

"I was aiming for the kitchen," Emma said as David reached them. "There's something blocking the magic. This is as close as I could get."

"Close enough," David cupped her cheek, grateful for her safety before turning his attention to Hook and Regina. The pirate looked like he had been in a fight, but otherwise no worse for wear. Regina looked like death. "What happened?" he asked, taking Regina's weight from them.

"I can walk just fine," she grumbled as David hooked an arm under her knees and lifted her.

"Doubtful, love," Hook told the queen who was trying to get out of David's arms. "You can barely stand."

"I feel fine now," Regina twisted until David was forced to put her down. "Where's my son?"

David gestured to the doorway behind him where Henry was leaning out. Regina brushed past him, running up trail and pulling her son to her the second he was within reach. The others weren't far behind and Regina reluctantly let him go so he could embrace Emma and Killian. "Thank you," she leaned briefly against David, "for keeping him safe."

"Of course," the prince replied. It had been an easy request to fulfill. "What happened to you?" he asked once Henry was downstairs and out of earshot.

"I don't know," Regina said around yawn she tried to stifle. She sat heavily on the edge of the bed, exhaustion hitting her all at once.

David only laughed and patted her knee. "Get some sleep. We could all use it, and then we figure out how to get the hell out of hell." He pulled her to her feet and walked her the few steps around the bed. She melted into it.

"I don't think that's where we are," she muttered, but was asleep before David could respond. He covered with the blanket Snow kept on the chair in the corner, checked once more to make sure the door to the outside was secure, and made his way downstairs to find Emma and Hook leaning against each other on the sofa, both sound asleep.

"You too," he said to Henry, clapping the boy on the shoulder. The boy could barely keep his eyes open the tension and apprehension had taken its toll on him. "Go," David pointed to the bedroom at the back. "Get some sleep then we go home." Henry trudged off; David heard the bed springs groan loudly as he collapsed against them. His family was here, they were safe, but David couldn't help but shake the feeling that it all had been too easy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay. I know things have been a bit confusing with the double Regina plots going, but hopefully I've explained everything that's going on in my brain in this bit. I did take many liberties with the Alp character. I wanted to do something a little non-traditional character, but I couldn't find that much research on it. So if anyone reading this is an expert in Germanic Folklore, you have my sincere apologies. Also, I had a couple readers ask me about the title. It's from one of my favorite Mumford and Sons songs and I felt it goes with the theme of our lovely characters (particularly OQ). "And I will love with urgency, but not with haste." Love it. Anywho...rant over. Thank you for reading and following and reviewing.**

* * *

Regina pushed against the dreams. There was a physical weight to them, a presence she could feel that was holding her just under the surface of consciousness. She needed to wake up, had done every conceivable thing to jar herself from this never ending cycle of nightmares and she was finally close, so close that she could feel the world around her, could feel cold stone scratching at her back even though she sat in the middle of a field, could feel a constant heat pressing into her skin even though the rain poured from the black sky above her. So close.

The dreams had only gotten worse since her fall from the balcony. She'd never landed, but woke instead curled in Henry's empty bed, clutching to the pillow that still smelled like her little boy. She instantly knew this time and place: when he left her for Emma, when he hated her, when she'd deserved every spiteful glare and accusing word her little prince threw her way. But something was different. Someone was shouting, Emma, breaking down the bedroom door and screaming _How could you_ and _he loved you_ and _what kind of mother._ Emma ripped her body from the bed, the pain shot from her hip where she had landed as the blonde started tearing her apart. Fists and magic flying around her, into her until she finally managed to push Emma off with her own burst of magic. _MONSTER!_ Emma screamed over and over before throwing herself onto Henry's bed. He hadn't been there when she 'woke', Regina knows this, knows this hell isn't real, but her boy is there, white as the sheets he lays on. There's a hole in his chest and Regina's hands are covered in blood.

She screams and she screams and she explodes. The room is burning, everything is burning. There's smoke and heat and pain and then nothing. Beautiful, blissful nothing for seconds on end and she soaks it in, tries to center herself in this brief abyss, but she's being pulled again and nothing can be worse than losing Henry so she feels the smallest glint of victory. Who or whatever is doing this to her just played all their cards and now it's her turn to change the game. She thinks back to what she remembers was real (she assumed it real anyway, felt real enough when she knocked some sense into the pirate) and what he had said. "Sitting this one out." So that's exactly what she did; sat right down in the muddied grounds of her castle and stared at her hands. She closed her eyes to the flying beasts circling them, did the best she could to block out the screams of the people she loved being captured and torn apart. She sits and she breathes and bit by bit she starts to wake up.

* * *

Regina's eyes shot open. She'd done it, gotten herself out of the endless hell she had been trapped in. Now she just needed to get out of here—wherever here happened to be. The Underworld, she told herself, willing her mind to settle and deal with the circumstances at hand. She'd gone through the portal last, Henry, David, and Emma should be here, but she'd been alone. Well, the pirate had been there, just steps from her and it wouldn't have been that easy to find him. He'd told her she was dead, but the thought was absurd. She knew she wasn't, and now that she thinks about it he didn't look all that dead himself. Back on track, Regina, she scolds as her mind begins to wander again. Why is it so damn hard to focus? It's dark, ridiculously so. Her eyes are open, but she can't see anything at all. And it's cold, the jacket she wears is her warmest and it does nothing to protect against the chill. There's rock at her back, hard and unforgiving. She's in a cave of some sort. Okay. Get out of the cave, find light, find her family, but she can't move. Why can't she move and why hadn't she noticed that sooner? Dammit, Regina, focus!

 _Welcome back, Your Majesty._

That voice again, the one that came from everywhere and nowhere and caused the frightened look in the pirate's eyes. It was all around her and in her head at the same time. "Who are you?" she yelled. "Where am I? What do you want? Where the hell is my son?" Her voice echoed around the chamber thankfully with the malice she intended instead of the growing panic she felt.

 _That is an awful lot of questions, my dear, but I shall do my best to answer you. I am not something so conventional as 'who'._ _I am nightmares, and fear, and the sense of dread that prickles up your spine_ _. Yes,_ it hissed against her ear as she felt goosebumps peppering her skin _, just like that. You are in the Underworld, my very own corner of it. Your son is with you, but he's not here. As for what I want,_ the booming voice turned to a sinister whisper, _I want you to suffer._

"You're not getting anything else from me," she spat out, writhing against her bonds. "I know your game and I'm not interested in playing."

 _You did seem to figure it out, rather quickly, but oh my dear your screams were delightful. I had no idea the Evil Queen could feel so deeply. It hardly took anytime at all to find the things that you love. I thought you'd have protected them better than that._

Protected them? Regina's mind was racing through all the pain she just endured, all the ways she'd lost Robin, Snow, and then Henry. "I'm not going to ask again," her voice was steady and defiant. "Where. Is. My. Son."

 _As I said, he is with you. You're not fully here, my dear, just as you're not fully there._

"That's not possible," she scoffed. It was mocking her, toying with her mind. Little did it know, the Evil Queen still burned inside her and she was not one to be trifled with.

 _Anything is possible in ones dreams. I could keep you here forever and they'll never know that you're gone because you're also there. Do you see? This is the realm of the dead, of forgotten memories and empty lives. A body is nothing here, but a mind…I can do anything with a mind._

"So you wait here and play mind games."

 _Oh, this isn't a game. This is my life; this is what I live for. Although, I'm not quite 'alive' as you would define it. Which of course only means that I cannot be dead._

"How are you in the Underworld if you're not dead?" Regina questioned.

 _How are you?_ it laughed and the room grew impossible colder _._

"Enough!" She jerked her body to the point of pain, but it was as if she was fused to the wall behind her.

 _Calm down, my dear, and listen. I was banished here sometime ago. It's been quite the punishment I assure you. You see, the dead do not dream, they do not fear, they just are and it's quite useless to me, frightfully boring. But then I felt a new arrival._

"Hook," she breathed out, letting her body rest while her mind worked.

 _Yes. The great Captain Killian Jones. He was a mess when he arrived, more than halfway to becoming like every other wretched being down here, but not quite yet. I was able to repair him. And the 'feelings' pouring from him. Oh, it was glorious: pain and grief, remorse with a touch of despair, and love. My favorite pastime is love. Makes you all weak and reckless and so easy to exploit. But, I fear I burned him out too quickly. It had been so long since I've had the chance to play in someone's mind that I was greedy, I pushed too hard, too often, never gave him the much needed breaks that I have given you._

"You call those seconds in between nightmares breaks?" she laughed at the audacity of this creature who thought it was being generous with her torture.

 _They were much longer than that, my dear. You see, when you wake here, you sleep there and when you sleep there you wake here. It's true you haven't had much of a rest yet, but I'm sure now that the Savior has her love back they won't need you anymore. You'll get some much needed rest and we will have plenty of time to chat between your dreams._

"You can't keep me here. They'll come for me." Regina surprised herself at how much she believed what she had just said; how she was sure that the people whose lives she had destroyed would come to save hers.

 _Of course I can. I can do whatever I want._ Regina was shoved back further into the wall until she was sure the rock was penetrating her skin. Her head was pounding, as she fought against the unconsciousness she was slipping into. _Now, my dear, tell me about your other boy. Not the one that's here. I already touched his mind. He has this unbreakable faith in what's right and in you. I might enjoy breaking that someday, but not now. No no no, now, I want to know about the other child. The one that has no idea that his precious Gina is a monster underneath._

She can't help the image of Roland that flashes in her mind. She can feel the demon latching on to it. "Leave him alone," she tries to think about anything else, but her thoughts are no longer her own. "Don't you dare touch him!" It's her last thought before everything once again goes sideways.

 _I_ can't _touch him, my dear. But you can. And I can't wait to watch it break you._

She fights against it, physically and mentally, but it's futile. Regina feels the dream take hold, deeper than the ones before. She feels the world change around her, her Evil Queen corset hugging her body, fire burning in her palm and Roland, her sweet, loving, dimpled Roland, looking at her like the monster she is.

* * *

It continued to surprise Robin how quickly his son had taken to Regina, particularly how accustomed he had gotten to going to sleep with a story or a song and her arms around him. Roland had been infatuated with her since the moment she saved him in the Enchanted Forest, had spent many nights there tucked into her side long before Robin was invited to share her bed. When they had left for New York, he cried for weeks, refusing to be comforted by Marian (or rather Zelena's) touch. It would seem his boy was more wise than he. Robin knows he should have seen this coming.

So here he is, sat again at Grannies, with an extremely cranky, sleep deprived child, and not one word from anyone that had left for the Underworld. Robin didn't know if he should be worried yet. He hadn't really expected Killian to be standing next to the portal waiting for them, bag packed and ready to go. He knew their lives had never been that fortunate, but of course he hoped that Regina and Henry would be back in matter of hours, safe and sound, that he and Regina would have already made up from the fight he no longer cared about.

But he was alone; once again a single father trying to navigate life. He'd filled what few free moments he had with Snow, researching the realm their family had traveled to. They had come up painfully short, only finding that the place was not the fire and brimstone one would assume, but instead a land of nightmares occupied by a demon that seemed more myth than monster.

He didn't want to believe in it, however, he couldn't shake Snow's words that they were all someone's myths and legends. Regina had given him a book telling lavishly exaggerated tales of his own adventures with the merry men. They'd all laughed over it, more so at the cartoon which portrayed them all as animals. It had been good fun until Roland had burst into tears for not being included in any of it. Regina had righted it all though, recounting the entire movie to his boy as they huddled together in his bed, casting Roland as a mischievous monkey, and had him giggling well into the night. If he hadn't loved her before, that would have done it.

"How are you holding up?" Granny Lucas topped off his coffee and slid into the booth across from him. The woman had been a godsend with his children, showing up and random to take the baby or distract Roland. Not to mention that she had provided them with almost every meal. He hated not being able to provide for his children as easily as he had in the Enchanted Forest. Of course, this realm provided wonders he could not imagine, but many still baffled him and he had promised not to touch Regina's kitchen without supervision.

"I miss them," he confessed to the older woman. " _We_ miss them," he wrapped his arm around Roland who was sound asleep with his face covered in mashed potatoes.

"They'll be back," Granny said concretely. "That girl has survived more than anyone should have to and she's come out better for it. Whatever they're facing, it should fear her."

"Thank you for that," Robin tipped his coffee to her. "You've known her for a long time, haven't you?"

"I knew Regina, I knew the Queen, than the Evil queen. It's good to know Regina again."

"There's a great deal of stories there that I would love to hear," Robin smiled.

"They're not mine to tell," Granny was gentle, but firm and Robin knew she was a safe he would never crack.

"She's lucky to have you," Robin said as the matriarch rose, taking her coffee pot to the next table.

"Damn right," he heard her mutter under her breath.

* * *

Emma woke to Killian's quiet snore against her ear. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep, there was no way to tell night from day in this ever changing underground, but she felt better, rested. She didn't remember falling asleep, barely remembers getting back to the loft and sitting down, but she had suddenly been bone tired. It bothered her; there was this gnawing feeling that nothing was ever this easy for them. It couldn't be as simple as getting some much needed sleep and going home. There was something much bigger going on and they would need to figure it out before leaving, no matter how much the Savior wanted to turn her back and run.

"I can hear you thinking, love," Killian stirred beside her, wincing at the pain in his ribs.

"Let me see," Emma whispered, untucking and unbuttoning his shirts to reveal the bruised flesh beneath. "What happened?"

"Regina. I don't know how and I know she doesn't believe me, but our dear queen was there and these," his fingers coasted over the newest injuries, "are her doing. She's a lot stronger than she looks." Emma laid her palm against his ribs, closed her eyes and let the magic flow through her. She healed him easily, the injury not that serious at all (not like being run through with a sword by any means). Her fingers lingered, dancing over his abs restlessly until he stilled them with cool metal of his hook. "You had to, Emma. It was me or everyone else. You had to."

Her tears came out of nowhere, falling heavy and hot from her eyes, soaking into his chest when he pulled her close. "Don't ever do that to me again," she sobbed quietly against him. "Don't ever make me do that again."

"I won't, Swan," he kissed the top of her head. "I promise, you're not getting rid of me that easily ever again."

"It wasn't easy. It was the worst moment of my life," she cried into him, wedging her face into his neck.

Killian shifted his arm from her shoulder to her waist, tugging her into his lap. "I'm sorry, love. I'm so sorry you had to do that." He rubbed her back as she clung to him, shaking with sobs she refused to set free. Killian was still hesitant, he kept waiting for this to be just another dream that he would wake from, just another scenario created by his grieving mind. He held her tighter with every breath, stealing himself against the moment that she would be pulled away. But it wasn't coming. His Swan was calming against him, her tears no longer pooling against his skin, her hands holding rather than grasping. Maybe, just maybe they could simply go home.

* * *

The scream that invaded their brief peace had everyone jolting up at the same time. Killian, Emma, David, and Henry all stared at each other in a stunned silence until the terrified sound surrounded them again. All heads turned to the loft where Regina slept.

 **More to come.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the delay. My weekends have been annoying busy and I'm usually brain-fried by the time I get home during the week. Heavy EC feels coming your way. I promise more OQ to come. Thank you for reading.**

* * *

The sight would have been comical if the four of them hadn't been frantic. David, Emma, Henry, and Killian all stood in a circle, woken from various stages of sleep, stunned for a moment with the harsh awakening and then all spurred into action at the same time. David reached the top of the stairs first, taking them three at a time with Emma on his heels. Father and daughter ran to opposite sides of the bed Regina was writhing on. She was being held down by glowing tendrils that snaked around her limbs, over her chest, coiling tighter and tighter as they made their way towards her throat. David's hands flew to her, grasping for the ropes but his fingers passed right through. Emma did the same except that when her fingers grasped on she recoiled from the instant flash of burning pain, fingertips already blistering from the brief contact.

Through it all, Regina kept screaming. She was wild-eyed, arching and straining as the light held her securely to the mattress. "I can't stop it!" David yelled over her cries as he ran his hands over her face, up and down her arms. Although he could clearly see the bindings, he felt nothing but the warm blood beginning to seep from the wounds they were inflicting on the queen.

"Neither could I," Killian said from the foot of the bed. He had his hand secured to the back of Henry's sweater, holding the boy back the best he could. "The same thing happened in the caves you rescued me from, love. They surrounded her completely then she was gone."

"We have to stop it!" Henry scrambled far enough away from the pirate to latch on to his mother's calf. He also trying and failing to loosen their deadly grip.

"Let go, kid," Emma ordered, raising her hands over her friends thrashing body. "I don't know what this is going to do. Henry and David let go simultaneously as white light exploded from Emma's palms. Regina went rigid, then silent; her body arched off the bed, fists buried in the blood spattered quilts beneath her. The bonds glowed brighter and brighter around her until all were forced to cover their eyes or look away. All but Emma, who kept her eyes locked on Regina's. She didn't know if she was helping or making things worse; it seemed her magic was always one or the other.

She was about to pull away, to try something else when Regina eyes finally found her own, finally focused. "Don't stop," she choked out, causing the Savior to redouble her efforts. Regina began screaming again as the ropes glowed hotter, she was squirming against the hold once more, this time managing to free her hand and began pulling at the bonds around her neck. More hands joined hers, David's she realized once he had freed her enough for her to turn her face towards him. Henry and Killian freed her legs as David pulled the last remaining hold from around her waist.

Everyone was breathing heavily; it was the only sound in the room for several long minutes as the group all stared at Regina and each other. Eventually Regina tried to pull herself onto her side. The creaking bedspring quickly followed by the pained moan the movement had caused seemed to snap everyone out of their haze. "Don't move," Emma told her as she gently pushed Regina's shoulder back into the mattress, trying and failing not to flinch from pain of her burned hands.

"Fix your hands," Regina said with far too much authority for someone in her current position. "And theirs." Regina stared at the ceiling. She was unwilling to close her eyes (may never again if what she just experienced could be a consequence,) but she also couldn't bear to look at them. They stood over her, she could feel their concern, their pity. She could feel Emma's magic making quick work of their burns, hear their quiet thank you's as the pain became memory, but that did nothing to change the fact that they were hurt because of her. Her son was hurt because of her. Regina couldn't stop the tears.

"Mom?" Henry's voice was small, scared as he latched on to Regina's ankle again, not sure what other comfort to offer her. He was frozen to the spot; stuck in that limbo between boy and man. He wanted to be strong for her, to find whatever had done this and destroy it, but he also wanted to crawl into her lap and have her reassure him that everything would be fine.

"Why don't we give your moms a minute?" Killian wrapped an arm around Henry's shoulder, but didn't pull. It was his mother, burned and bloody before him after all. The choice to leave her side needed to be his. Of course that didn't me the pirate couldn't persuade the boy into making the proper decision. "Let Emma get her fixed up, then we'll figure out what the bloody hell is doing this."

"The book." Three sets of eyes darted from Regina to David. "Henry, those lines we saw on your mom in the book."

"Right!" Henry headed for the stairs, confident they had at least one piece of the puzzle to work with.

"We'll be looking at a book then," Killian looked quickly from David to Regina to Emma, staying on the last just a bit longer than necessary before following Henry down to the kitchen.

Once they were both settled, Emma turned her attention back to Regina. At some point during her and Killian's silent exchange, David had sat beside her on the bed and had his knuckles slowly tracing over her cheeks, wiping away silent tears. "I think you're going to need to hold her." Emma tried to keep her voice steady for her own sake as well as Regina's. David only nodded, sliding his arm under Regina's shoulders and slowly lifting her to lie against his chest. He hadn't really felt the burns on his hands as they were happening, had been too focused on the task at hand. Albeit brief, the healing had been painful: both too hot and cold at the same time, a thousand needles stitching him back together. And it had only been his hands.

Regina swallowed down the scream, only letting the slightest whimper pass from her lips. The room spun as the nausea and pain took over every one of her senses. She let her head fall back against David's shoulder, pressed her forehead firmly into the side of his neck and tried to focus.

"Are you ready?" Emma asked, hands hovering just above her midsection and arms where the burns were the worst. Regina nodded and set her jaw, pushing her back tighter against David. The prince wrapped an across her shoulders, holding her in place.

"Don't let me hurt you," she breathed against him as the first tingling's of Emma's magic caused her to jerk against him.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. You don't scare me." He smiled against her, taking the hand Emma had just healed and holding tight.

"Liar," Regina started to say but it turned into a cry she couldn't hold back as the gashes across her stomach and chest were fused back together.

* * *

Henry jumped at his mother's sharp cry, but kept his eyes fixed on the book pages. "These weren't here before," he told Hook as he ran his fingers over the image of his mother slumped on the ground as flying monkeys swarmed around her carrying Robin and Snow away. Regina's features were barely visible in the drawing, more of the iridescent blue than anything else, but her eye was clear. As was the pain it reflected. "What's happening to her? What's doing this?"

Killian's hand tightened on Henry's shoulder. He had yet to release him. "I'm not sure, Henry. It's not good, whatever it is and it seems to have it out for your mum." Hook had never been one to sugar coat anything. He saw no point in lying, least of all to the youngest (and probably wisest) among them. "But she's tough, right?" Henry sniffed and nodded, leaning imperceptibly closer to Killian when another shuddered cry from upstairs hit his ears. "We'll sort this out like we always do and we'll get her home, get us all home."

"You sound like my grandma." Henry wiped at his eyes, no longer caring to keep up a brave face.

"Yes, well, Snow White's hope speeches are quite infectious. But only because they're so often true. You lot don't give up, especially not on each other. We're going to figure out what this beast is and then we're going to fight it." He pulled Henry to him, holding him for just as long as a teenaged boy would let himself be held by his mother's boyfriend, before releasing him as if the much needed contact had never happened. "Show me the pages before, the ones you said were other people's dreams." Henry looked at him questioningly for a moment. He had already explained to the older man that they were private, that no one should see that part of people. Killian could see the hesitation in Henry's eyes. "I promise not to look too closely and not to ever speak of anything I do see, but I'd like to test a theory," he explained. Henry held his ground another moment before turning the book toward the pirate. As promised, Killian flipped through the pages quickly, not lingering on any moment that wasn't meant for his eyes until he suddenly stopped.

"Is that?" Henry asked, leaning in to inspect the page that had caused the other man to stop.

"Emma," Killian finished for him. "Frozen solid and me," his finger tapped his illustrated self, "powerless to do anything to save her."

"You had that nightmare? When Elsa came and she and Mom got trapped behind that ice wall… You dreamt that?"

"I dreamt that in that chair, with your Mom shivering in her sleep beside me." His hook gestured toward the weathered recliner by the door.

"That's why this place is here! We've all had nightmares here!" Henry was suddenly hopeful, at least they had figured something out.

"That's my theory. It doesn't really solve anything, but it explains why your grandparent's loft appeared out of nowhere."

"There's other stuff in here though," Henry quickly turned back pages revealing Regina's earlier nightmares that he tried not to look at too closely. Even now, Killian noticed the boy was looking at the counter rather that the pages. "She wouldn't have had all of these here. She's only stayed here a couple times and a lot of these look like they might be from the Enchanted Forest."

"Maybe because this being is connected to her somehow. Maybe it can access her dreams?" Killian mused.

"But why just her? Why not me and Grandpa and Emma?"

"I would fancy Regina has a few more skeletons in her closet than most." Killian watched as Henry looked down at the book, slowly turning through page after page his mother's past nightmares. He was close to tears again, something the pirate could not abide. "She loves you, Henry. I've known you're mother longer than either of us would like to admit. Trust me when I say you've made her better than she thought she could be."

"What's with this book now?" Neither man had heard Emma come down the stairs. She leaned into Killian's other side, sliding the book towards her for closer inspection. Her hands were trembling when she reached out for the pages and she quickly tucked them into his side hoping her boys wouldn't notice. Henry was thankfully watching the top of the stairs, but Killian hadn't missed motion. "She'll be down in a minute Henry," Emma assured her son. "David's taking care of her. What did I miss down here?" She let Hook hold onto her while Henry went over the connection the pair had just figured out, ever grateful for the pirate's silent comfort. Her son was already worried sick over one mother, Emma didn't need him to see her hurting as well.

"What can I do?" Killian whispered into Emma's ear while Henry was bent over the book with the magnifying glass.

"Just shaken up," Emma leaned back into his hold, let him support her and walk her back putting a few more feet between her and her son. "I'm fine. I promise."

"Still, what can I do?" He rests his chin on her shoulder.

"You're doing it."

* * *

The second the magic stopped glowing from Emma's hands, Regina collapsed against David's chest. She was boneless, breathing hard, her whole body was soaked with sweat and she was trembling as her the last remnants of magic worked its way through her limbs. "Thank you," she slowly reached for Emma's hand, squeezing her fingers as hard as she was able, "again."

Emma's heart was racing, her limbs felt like jelly as she sat heavily on the edge of the bed to catch her breath. "Don't mention it," she panted out. "But if we could not make a habit of you getting that hurt by magic, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

"What else happened?" Regina startled at David's voice next to her ear. Had she really forgotten the man who'd been holding her through all this was there? No. She was just jittery, too keyed up and exhausted at the same time. And she hated it, hated this feeling of not being able to control her mind or her body.

"We fell in one of the tunnels, out of it I guess," Emma explained absently as it had been years ago, not a few hours. "Lots of gravel and a few boulders."

"Is that all?" David asked raising an eyebrow to Emma's nonchalant answer.

"Compared to all this," she squeezed Regina's hand back, bouncing it nervously between them. "It was nothing. I'm going to go check on Henry," she said hurriedly, pulling her hand free and heading down the stairs without looking back.

"What else happened?" David asked again once his daughter was down the stairs. His arms absently ran up and down Regina's arms as she continued to lean against him.

"I'm not sure. The closer we got to Hook the sicker I started to feel. I don't know what's caused, but I think she blames herself for whatever it is." Regina sat up with David's hand supporting her back. For a moment she just traced the patterns of the blanket. "I don't. You know that, right?"

"I do." He pulled at her arm until she was sitting by his side. "You should really try to get some sleep. I'll stay with you if you want."

Regina laughed. "I appreciate the chivalry, Charming, but I'm going to be sleeping anytime soon." She turned to the prince; he was staring down at her, jaw clenched and brow creased. "Stop it," she said firmly. "Stop looking at me like this was your fault."

"I fell asleep," he confessed quietly.

"We all did," she countered.

"I saw the pictures of you in that book. I knew something was going on. I should have—"

"You should have what? Stood over me? You'd have been at my side 3 seconds sooner, David. And you know I would not have let you coddle me." She bumped her shoulder into his until he chuckled in agreement. "Show me this book I apparently star in?" She scooted off the bed and held her hand out for him to join her.

" _Star_ might be a bit of an overstatement, but you're definitely a featured player." He followed her down the stairs with a hand on her shoulder, kept it there until Henry pulled her into the hug he'd been anxiously waiting to give her. "Do we have a plan?" David asked anyone who would answer.

"We need to go back to where we found Killian." Emma said, looking between the pirate and the queen, both nodding their silent agreement. Regina tightened her grip around her son. He shouldn't be here. He most certainly shouldn't be there, but she was not leaving him anywhere again.

"Where?" Regina asked. "The landscape kept changing. I'm not sure how close we can get."

"Where we came out of the tunnels. Second arch to the right?" Emma suggested, holding out her hand to Killian.

"Straight on 'til morning," Regina tried to smile, but her apprehension bled through. Still, there was no other way she could see to solve this than going back to the source. She took Henry's hand, reached behind her and grabbed David's and the five disappeared into clouds of white and purple smoke.


	8. Chapter 8

**I promise I didn't abandon this fic. Actually I got almost everything done this weekend so stay tuned for much more frequent updating. Thanks for following along.**

* * *

They'd met for target practice deep in the woods. Actually Snow had gone off, frustrated and in need of attacking something and Granny Lucas had shown up at Robin's door with Neal in tow, telling him in no uncertain terms that he was to go find the princess and blow off some steam of his own. Robin's not sure why he thought to grab his bow. Sometimes he firmly believes that the Widow Lucas holds some power over them all—Jedi mind control, Henry had told him once when the exact dinner he wanted turned up in front of him before he'd even had a chance to see if it was on the menu. He still wasn't sure what a Jedi was, but he couldn't argue that Mrs. Lucas indeed had a sixth sense about the members of their little town.

It took him longer than he would like to admit to find her trial. The bandit Snow White had most definitely learned a thing or two about covering her tracks during her years spent running from the Evil Queen and whether she was aware of it or not, the same still held true here in Storybrooke. It was the familiar sound of an arrow slicing wind that gave her away, that and her frustrated cry when that arrow sailed past its intended target and embedded in the dirt a few feet from where Robin stood. Better not to be in front of her, the thief thought, pulling the arrow from the dirt and doubling back until he was a few feet behind. He watched her silently for a few moments as she composed herself, set her sight, and let her next arrow fly to land soundly in the center of a far off tree. Robin then released one of his own, splitting hers in two.

Snow spun on her heals, bow drawn on him with a speed that both impressed and terrified. "Robin!" her bow immediately lowered, but her gaze was stern. "I could have killed you!" she scolded.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to startle you." He flashed her a dimpled smile and whatever ire Snow held quickly melted away. How did Regina ever manage to be angry with him when he had those to pull out at any given moment?

"You just meant to show me up?" she cocked her thumb to the target behind her.

"Only to begin a friendly competition," he corrected, handing her back the arrow he'd rescued earlier. "It was brought to my attention that we both needed to go shoot at something."

"Granny?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Who else," Robin replied, notching another arrow.

"Alright, Prince of Thieves, let's see if you live up to your legend." She spotted a lone pinecone hanging from a tree a few paces off and towering above them. After pointing it out to Robin, she let her arrow fly, slicing the stem and causing the seed to fall to the earth. Robin's arrow split it in two before it hit the ground. "Impressive," Snow admitted to her fellow archer who simply shrugged. "Robin Hood, indeed," Snow muttered under her breath as she sought out her next target.

.

.

.

The sun was beginning to set by the time they made it back to the loft. Robin had insisted on seeing her home, arguing that Roland and Ella were likely closer to her home than his either way. The cries of an angry infant echoing through the Inn's halls only confirmed his suspicions. "Yours or mine?" Robin asked as they got closer to the Charmings' door.

"Definitely mine," Snow answered confidently as she walked through the door and was handed wailing child before she'd had a chance to get her coat off.

"I didn't think you'd be gone all damn day," Granny scolded, brushing past the pair. She held her scowl until she had disappeared into her own rooms. Best to keep up appearances even if half the town knew her bark was worse than her bite, wolf notwithstanding.

"Told you it was mine," Snow yelled to Robin over her shoulder as she bounced her son. She looked jealously at Robin's two sleeping angels as Neal continued to wake the dead.

"Where do you store your bow?" Robin yelled back, trying to do what he could to diffuse the situation.

"Front closet," Snow answered, continually bouncing the baby while trying to shrug out of her coat. "Could you?" she asked, twisting and pulling until she was hopelessly stuck in the garment.

"The bandit, Snow White, captured at last by her evil winter coat," Robin joked as he rescued the princess from her entrapment while she shifted Neal from one arm to another. The moment Snow could move freely she was heading for the kitchen in search of a much needed bottle, leaving Robin to finish putting their gear away. He found a free hanger, returning her coat to its proper place and was about to shut the door when something else caught his eye. Curiosity getting the better of the thief, he reached in a bit further and pulled a second bow free. It was larger than the princesses', a rich cherry wood ornately carved. He pulled it out into the light, turning it over in his hands. The grip fit him perfectly, as if the carver had molded it to his hand. Running his thumb over the scripted LOCKSLEY carved into the upper limb, his lion crest on the lower, Robin realized they may very well have. "What's this?" he asked Snow who was busily silencing her impatient child and paying no mind to what Robin had unearthed from her closet. Her eyes went wide when she saw what the thief had in his hands.

"Oh no. No no no. I completely forgot that was in there. You were not supposed to see that. Regina's going to kill me." She crossed the room quickly meaning to take it from his hands, but her own were otherwise occupied and what was the point of concealing it now? The surprise was already ruined. "It's for your birthday," she said defeatedly. "God, I can't believe I ruined this for her. She was so excited to give it to you. You should have seen her face when Marco brought it over."

It was beautiful, exquisite really. Robin could barely tear his eyes away from it, couldn't stop the prick of tears at the fact that Regina had thought to have it commissioned for him. He wanted to see that nervous excitement in her eyes when she presented it to him, looked forward to that more than the artistry of the bow. "She needn't know," he slipped it back into the closet, placing Snow's own bow in front of it and rearranging a few coats to further conceal it from his eyes. The gesture was unnecessary, but appreciated.

"Thank you," Snow smiled softly, tucking her now content son into his crib. She knew Robin would say nothing, but also that he hadn't reached back far enough into that closet to see the smaller bows she'd tucked away bearing the same delicate carvings and an engraved HENRY and ROLAND. She was confident Regina would still get the desired reaction from the thief. Showing her love for the man was one thing, giving it to their children was entirely another. "Stay for a drink?" she asked once confident that Neal would sleep for a few hours.

"I really should get this one to bed," he pointed to Roland who was sprawled on the couch.

"Put him down in Henry's room," she cocked her chin to the loft above them. "I may have procured a bottle or Regina's cider?" she added to sweeten the deal.

That had done it.

.

.

.

"We are _horrible_ parents!" Snow announced loudly after nearly half the bottle was gone.

"I'll admit getting a bit snockered while our kids are asleep may not be the most responsible thing in the world, but it's hardly 'horrible'," Robin argued. "Besides, they're all fed and tucked in. No harm done in enjoying ourselves a bit."

"Not that!" She was annoyed that he wasn't getting it. More annoyed when Robin had the audacity to shush her to ensure their sleeping children stayed asleep. "We were going to leave them, Robin." Snow spoke slowly as if enunciating each syllable would make her point clearer. "We were going to jump through a portal to god knows where and leave these precious babies without any parents." She was whispering now, but still loudly enough that her words echoed around the apartment.

Robin lowered his drink.

She was absolutely right. What on earth had they been thinking? It was bad enough that Roland cried for Regina, that his new daughter already missed the snuggle of her breast, but he would have been gone too. His crying children left to the comfort of others, possibly to never see either of them again. "Damnit," he breathed out after Snow's words fully washed over him.

"I know," the princess rose from her chair and walked somewhat steadily to the crib where their children lay. "How did she know we hadn't thought it through?"

"Because she already had," Robin answered although Snow didn't need him to. "She tried to talk me out of going; asked me to kidnap Henry until she was away. I talked her out of it. I tried to talk her out of going at all, but she was insistent." He's quiet for a moment and Snow leaves him to his thoughts, can tell he's going over and over something in his mind, trying to find that nonexistent point where he could have prevented any of this worry. He thinks back to all the times Regina's pushed people away because she was simply afraid of being held, of all the times she hid in silence because she was afraid that someone would listen and tell her it was okay. "She was scared." He's not sure he says it out loud, very sure he didn't mean to. He looks to Snow's reaction and the sadness in her eyes tells him all he needs to know. It seems she's not the only one incapable of keeping Regina's secrets.

The issue is never discussed further though as a frightened cry of "Papa!" cuts through the silence forming between them. Robin sobers instantly and is up the stairs arms extended just in time to catch the tear streaked child that leaps into them. "It's hurting, 'Gina!" Roland cries into his neck, small fists clutching at his collar. Robin turns to sit on the edge of the bed, rubbing soothing circles into his son's back and whispering assurances that his 'Gina is fine and that it had only been a dream, but as Snow comes to the top of the stairs, tears threatening to fall from her own eyes at the sight of the distraught child, he knows that somehow there is more to Roland's nightmares than simply missing his mother. They stare silently at each other until hiccuped cries turn to soft whimpers and eventually into deep even breaths. It doesn't need to be said: something went horribly wrong.

* * *

The cavern was spinning before the smoke cleared, or maybe that was just her head and the jackhammer that had suddenly taken up residence inside of it. Henry gripped her hand tighter and called her name. Everything was dark. He sounded so far away. David's arms were tight around her waist, she was grateful for it because there didn't seem to be any sort of ground beneath her feet. 'How were they not falling as well?, she wondered.

"Regina, open your eyes!" it was the Savior yelling at her again. Just because they were tentative friends now didn't mean that she got to continuously order her around. "Regina!"

She felt the sting on her cheek. Did Emma really just slap her? Regina's eyes shot open, she would have burned Emma alive if her magic had at all co-operated. "Don't ever do that again," Regina sneered, but was annoyed when Emma didn't even flinch at her threat.

"Yelling wasn't working and I need you to keep it together until we figure out where we're going." Emma was already moving past her, trying to get her bearings in the chamber so they could figure out what direction to head.

"I am together, Miss Swan," Regina countered.

"You're not even standing, Regina," Emma yelled back over her shoulder as she headed out into the larger chamber her and Regina had traveled to before.

Oh. Well then. Regina finally noticed that David was completely supporting her, her legs hung limply, knees bent at odd angles. "Sorry," she muttered not loud enough for Emma to hear, setting herself to rights. David kept his grip until the tremble in her knees subsided. Henry was still holding her hand. She smiled at him in what she hoped was a re-assuring manner, but he only held tighter.

"You can lean on me," Henry told her, pulling her arm across his shoulders and wrapping his arm around her waist. It broke her heart, her son seeing her like this, needing to take care of her. But her son was smart and he'd played his cards. He was well aware that he was the only one of her group that his mother wouldn't blatantly refuse out of spite. So she leaned on him and tried her best to only use him for the slightest of balance correction and ignored whenever his arm would reflexively tighten around her when she leaned too far to one side or the other.

They followed Emma and Killian as the pair took off in the direction they hoped they had gone before. David brought up the rear, checking behind them every few moments only to discover each time that nothing looked as it had seconds ago. "What is this place?" he asked anyone.

"Some sort of dream world was the best I could figure." It was Killian who answered. "It was always changing depending on what I would think about, or who," he looked to Emma briefly before fixing his eyes back to the supposed horizon. "I can't say that any of it was pleasant. Until you and Regina showed up, that is."

"It looked like the park in Storybrooke," Emma picked up the tale where her pirate left off. "Exactly like it, smell of the pond, that sound of the wind under the bridge…" She trailed off as the landscape shifted around them to reveal the scene she had just described.

"That's…disturbing," David said as they all came closer together.

They were all looking around, searching for anything that looked unfamiliar that could signal them a direction to continue towards. "Look!" Henry cried out, releasing Regina's hands and pointing to the electric blue beam that was racing towards them.

"Move," Emma was shoving at him at the same moment David was relieving him of Regina's weight. "Stay behind me, kid," she ordered as she readied herself for the attack. The beam abruptly stopped a few feet in front of her, hovered a moment then shot straight into the atmosphere. The scream that followed had them all turning quickly to the woman whose voice had unleashed such pain.

Regina stood silent and wide-eyed, more shocked than the rest that her scream hadn't come from her lips. "What the hell?" she whispered, as much to make sure her voice was still her own as to ask the question. They heard it again, louder this time, and everyone looked up to see the beam flying back toward them. Emma raised her hands, white magic colliding with whatever this force was. She held it at bay for the moment, but the screams grew louder and louder with each second that her magic flowed.

"Emma, stop!" Killian's arms pulled hers down, breaking her concentration and halting the magic that flowed through her. It was silent the moment she let go.

"Why did you do that?" Emma demanded as she spun on him. It had been working, hadn't it? It wasn't getting any closer. She was breathing hard, waiting for answers when she noticed their company was one member short. "Where's Regina?"

"It took her, love. Another beam or rope or whatever the bloody hell this thing is. Came up from the ground and surrounded her before we could even think to stop it."

"She's gone," Henry's hand was still outstretched, still appeared to hold on to the one that was ripped from him.

* * *

Regina opens her eyes to darkness that is both foreign and familiar. There's rock at her back where David should be, but the rock should be there as well. Her fingers seek out the now familiar grooves under her hands. It's colder than it was moments ago, the air feels thinner, but her lungs seem to already have adjusted to the change.

 _It can be disorienting when you first come back together._

She jumps at the voice, low and rough; it seems to coat her skin. She was just with her family, but she knows she never left this place. They had found Killian, she knows she was there beside Emma watching them embrace, but her eyes haven't seen light in days. Henry was just holding her hand, she can still feel his fingers pulling at her, but her flesh is scraped raw from her constant pushing against the unyielding stone behind her. Her mind is spinning, working faster than her body can cope with and she's suddenly retching into the abyss.

 _I offered you a choice._ It's angry, accusing. _I offered you a chance to continue your life. I offered to share you with them. But that wasn't good enough for you. You've insulted me, my queen. Your companions attacked me. I let them take you once, but you came back. Why did you come back? You got too close yourself, Regina. Too close to me. But now I have you, all of you. Now all of you belongs to me._

"I don't belong to anyone" she coughs and spits, wishing at the very least to wipe her mouth, but her arms remain prone.

 _Why do you insist on fighting this? It doesn't have to be thissssssssss,_ the voice pauses, considering, and Regina wonders if it is actually trying to persuade her to remain a willing prisoner. Obviously, they've never crossed paths before if it thinks she will ever be caged.

" _Painful,"_ the voice finally says, but it's not the ominous echo she's come to expect. It's the voice that calms her nightmares, that makes her laugh, that tells her she's loved.

"Do not use him," she threatens, her own voice murderous.

" _You're exhausted, Mi'lady,"_ he leans into her. The bonds that held her tightly to the stone wall fade into his arms as he pulls her to his chest, lips brushing softly against her forehead.

"Don't touch me!" Regina screams into the face that isn't Robin, but could be. So very easily could be if she'd just let herself—"No!" she pushes at him again when his fingers begin to thread through her hair. "I don't know what you think you're going to achieve with this charade, but I'm not interested in playing house with a demonic shapeshifter. I'm never going to believe any of this is real!" She raises her hands, intending to send fire thrashing out, but she can't feel her magic at all. That by no means makes her defenseless, she quickly decides, trading fireballs for a strong right hook. She's thrown off balance when her fist never makes contact.

"You can't hurt me, my love. I'm not really here. Remember?" His knuckles brush her cheek softly, travel back into her hair, pulling gently at the locks behind her ear.

Regina spits into his face.

Fingers tighten to the point of pain before he's shoving her back. She can feel the ropes snaking around her again, pulling her harshly back into the stone wall. The bindings are impossibly tighter as 'Robin' stalks toward her. "I'll never believe that he'd hurt me either," she tries to suppress the fear in her voice, searching for the confidence she had seconds ago, but as she hangs midair, magic and limbs utterly useless, she can't suppress the shudder that runs through her.

 _Everyone hurts you, Mi'lady._ He steps closer, closer until she can smell the forest scent of him, count the laugh lines that pull at his eyes. But he's not smiling. Robin's face wears an expression she's never seen. She knows it's not him. She knows. But it's his hands that wraps around her throat, his fist that collide with her flesh over and over. It's his name that she cries, begging him to stop.

* * *

 **Sorry? Let me know what you think. xoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

**One more to go after this. Ten feels like a good number of chapters to stop at. Thanks for following along with this "super creepy acid trip of an adventure". I love reviews!**

* * *

Henry started running with no destination in mind. All he knew was that his mother that was behind him only seconds ago and now she was gone. "Henry, wait!" Emma was after him like a shot, David and Killian only steps behind. "Kid, wait!" she yelled again, managing to get a hand on his back pack and pull them both to the ground.

"We have to go after her!" Henry was pushing Emma away, kicking at the ground to get back to his feet. Three hands and a hook joined Emma's, pinning him to the ground.

"We're going after her, Henry. We're going after her, but we go together. You can't run off. She'll kill us all if something happens to you." Emma pushed her son to his back, held him down with hands planted firmly on his shoulders even as he stopped fighting against her.

"We don't even know where she is. We don't even know _what_ took her." Henry swiped at frustrated tears. Once again, he felt completely useless as the heroes looked down at him. "We don't even know where we are." He covered his eyes with his forearm as the sky shifted from blinding sun to the dead of night above them.

"Right then," Hook said, dropping to his knees beside mother and son. "At the moment we are in the Enchanted Forest. I'd know those stars anywhere." He pointed up to the sky at stars completely foreign to the boy staring up.

"And I know these woods," David added, reaching his hand down to pull Henry to his feet. "I spent many years avoiding Regina in this realm."

"And we have this." Emma reached into Henry's discarded pack and pulled out the remnants of the locater potion they had used to find Hook. "So do you have anything of hers in here or what?" she joked as she began making a show of rummaging through. It took a moment longer than she would have liked, but Henry gave in.

"I packed her scarf," Henry said quietly, "the blue one. She put enough stuff in there for me for 3 months, but nothing for her." He pushed Emma's hands away and reached in blindly, feeling for the rolled up cashmere on the bottom of the pack and dropping it in his other mother's hands. "It's not fair. She's trying to be good. She's always trying and she just keeps getting hurt."

"I know, kid." Emma unrolled the scarf and handed back to Henry as she uncorked the potion. "Your mom's tough though, right?" She holds his gaze just long enough for Henry to nod.

"She's probably the toughest person I've ever met. She doesn't give up," Henry confirmed, growing more confident by the minute they would be able to rescue Regina.

"Exactly," David clapped his hands on his grandson's shoulders. "She's going to keep fighting because she knows we're going to find her. She knows that _you_ are going to find her."

"I'm probably going to owe her a new scarf," Emma cringed as the potion soaked into the expensive fabric. The spell took instantly; the scarf slipped through Henry's fingers as the enchantment floated quickly away. "She's close," Emma assured, linking her fingers with Henry, her other hand grasping Killian's hook.

David took the lead, pointing out where the path sloped, where a branch was too low, but mostly his gaze remained fixed on the scarf ahead of him until it stopped suddenly in front of two carved wood doors. "Her vault," the prince broke the silence the troupe had settled into. "How appropriate."

"You guys stay here," Emma grabbed the scarf and turned toward the three men behind her.

"Not a chance," Henry argued, already moving forward.

"Dad?" she was asking for help, but David had no intention of giving it.

"I'm with Henry on this one, Emma. We all agreed we stick together."

"None of you can stop this thing," Emma said frankly. She was done being delicate and pulling her punches. She was tired of chasing this thing, of always being a step behind. She was tired of it hurting the people she cared about. Emma Swan was ready for a fight. "Light magic has been the only thing that even slowed it down and unless the three of you suddenly developed super powers, you don't have it."

"Emma," Killian warned. He had just gotten her back in some twist of fate and was not about to lose her again, and certainly not to her own recklessness.

"I can't help her and protect all of you at the same time and all she wants is to protect you," she stared Henry down, daring her son to argue. "If she sees you down there she won't hesitate to sacrifice herself for you, you know that, Henry. You're everything to her." It was a low blow and Emma hated herself for having to use it, but it had the desired effect. They understood, even if they didn't agree.

"Ten minutes," David conceded reluctantly. He knew Emma was right. She had a power they needed if this was going to work. "Ten minutes and we—"

"We're not leaving her!" Henry interrupted, ripping the scarf from Emma's hands. It would seem she hadn't convinced them all.

"We'll find another way, Henry," David finished. "Ten minutes and we'll find another way. I've no intention of leaving here without both of your mothers." He pulled the scarf from Henry's hands and gave it back to Emma. "Ten minutes," he told her one more time with a look that dared her to be a second late.

"Be careful, love. This thing doesn't play fair." Killian walked her to the door of the vault, wrapped her in his arms and kissed her soundly, not caring that her father and son were but a few feet away, both trying to look anywhere else. "Ten minutes and I'm coming in there after you. I may have come to care for our dear queen over the years, but I'll not lose you to that monster." He spoke low, the message only for her ears.

"We'll both be back," she assured him, "before you know it." She gave a subtle nod that relayed so much more before heaving the solid door and disappearing into the darkness.

* * *

"I think I found something," Belle rushed into the diner carrying a black leather bound book that had to weigh more that she did. The plates on the table rattled when she dropped it between Snow and Robin, quickly flipping through pages and pointing animatedly at the spiral drawn in the center of the page.

" _We_ found something," Tinkerbelle corrected, pulling Roland into her lap so she could slide into the booth next to Robin.

"I'm sorry, Belle, Tink, but I can't read…whatever language this is." Robin's fingers skimmed over the ancient scripture, he looked to Snow who shared his own confused expression.

"It's Elvish," Tink said as if everyone should know such things.

"Anyway," Belle took over, pointing again "this passage talks about a portal that can be opened to find a lost love."

"You mean?" Snow started, leaning further over the book as if the passages would somehow make sense from a different angle.

"I don't know for sure, and it seems like a complicated spell, but you and David share a heart," Belle explained to Snow.

"And you and Regina are soulmates," Tink filled in for Robin, bumping into the thief to remind him of her part in their fated love.

"What they're trying to say is that if anyone is capable of casting this spell, it's the two of you." Granny explained, hovering over them, coffee pot in hand. No one had heard her approach.

Robin and Snow silently stared at each other. This was it. They were getting them back. "What do we need to do?" the asked simultaneously.

"We talk to Blue," Tink said.

"And Rumple," Belle added. "We'll need them both if the portal is going to be strong enough to seek them out and stay open at both ends.

"Are we going to go get 'Gina now?" Roland asked around a mouthful of French fries. The five adults turned to the wide-eyed child who had taken in everything that was said around him.

"Yes, my boy," Robin couldn't hold back the hopeful smile that stretched his face, "We're going to go get 'Gina." He pulled Roland into his arms as he and Snow gathered their children and their coats and followed Belle and Tink out into the night.

.

.

.

It turned out casting the spell wasn't nearly as difficult as convincing those with magic to cast it. Thank the heavens they had Belle and Tinkerbelle on their sides, or convincing the Blue Fairy to help the Evil Queen (reformed as she may be) or Rumpelstiltskin to help anyone without his own motives behind it would have been impossible. But convince them they had, and the six were now gathered once again inside the clock tower watching Rumple drop ingredient after ingredient into a bubbling cauldron.

"How will we know if it works?" Robin asked. He didn't trust magic as a rule. He trusted Regina explicitly, but this imp was entirely different.

"We will know when your true love runs into your waiting arms." Rumple answered sarcastically. "This will open the portal. It won't make them come through it. I can't to everything for them."

"Did you know this was possible?" Snow asked as she watched the potion start to spin. "Did you know Robin and I could give them a way home?"

"There's a great deal of magic in the realms, dearie. I can't be expected to keep up with them all," Rumple brushed her off.

"So that's a yes, then." Robin stated, noticing the slight flinch from Belle at his accusation.

"I'm helping you now out of the goodness of my heart, thief. Don't push it."

Snow's hand on his arm held any further action or accusation back. He remained silent for her, she having just as much if not more invested in the success of this spell as he.

"Your turn," Rumple stepped back as Blue stepped forward simultaneously reaching for Robin's hand and circling her wand over the cauldron.

"What do you need?" the thief asked, willing to give whatever that may be.

"Your blood. Both of you." A small white knife appeared in her out-stretched hand. "Just a prick and into the pot."

Robin sliced the tip of his finger, handing the blade to Snow who did the same. Their blood dripped together into the potion, once, twice, before Blue pushed their hands away. A violent red smoke filled the tower, filling all their lungs until Rumple waved his hand and transported them all to the street below.

"Did it work?" Snow asked as between coughing fits. The front of the library shuttered as the portal came to life.

"The door's open," Blue informed them. "Now we just see if they come through."

* * *

The first thing Emma realized was that ten minutes wasn't going to be enough time. The darkness around her was suffocating. She was afraid to move in any direction for fear of falling into some unknown chasm. She knew roughly where the stairway was in Regina's family crypt, but wasn't foolish enough to believe that anything would be where it should. She brought light to her palm; it blazed quickly before settling on something manageable. She could see now, but that also meant that anything could see her. The scarf in her hand tugged her forward and she followed willingly. What other option did she have? Ten minutes, she repeated in her head, probably eight now, she should have set some sort of timer. Lord knows the three she left were counting down her precious seconds.

She veered to the right then stopped dead in her tracks, pulling back on the enchantment that was pulling itself the last few feet to its owner. Regina was secured to the wall, fully restrained by the glowing blue beams that continued to seek her out. Emma looked around the room, stepping tentatively closer and closer to the queen. They seemed to be alone. Was something finally going her way? "Regina," Emma whispered when she was but inches from the brunette's face. "Regina," slightly louder as she reached out to feel for her pulse between the magic bindings. Regina recoiled, forcing her body further against the wall at the subtle contact of Emma's fingertips. "It's okay," Emma looked around again deciding it worth the risk to let her voice go a bit louder. "Regina, it's okay, I'm going to get you out of here."

"Go," Regina croaked out, her voice raw and painful from its recent strain.

"We're going together. Henry's waiting. I just have to get you out of this." Emma stepped back, ready to hit the bonds with the magic that had released them before, not thinking of the further injury she would likely cause her friend. That could be fixed later, when they were home, when she could see more than six inches in front of her, when there wasn't a sociopathic blue light trying to attack. Just as the first sparks of magic began to flow the entire structure rumbled around them, tossing Emma to the floor and plunging them back into darkness.

* * *

"Henry," David calls after the boy who is pacing restlessly back and forth. Ten steps, turn, ten steps turn. "Henry," he tries again when he gets no response.

"I'm counting!" Henry yells back over his shoulder as he turns and retraces his steps.

"Henry, this isn't helping," Killian tells him. The pirate now matching him stride for stride.

"Yeah? Well nothing we're doing is helping, is it?" Henry spits back.

Hook locks eyes with David and shrugs his shoulders in defeat. They can't very well argue with that and Henry does have every right to his anger and frustration. Both men share it, neither being used to sitting idly by and that is exactly what they're doing. A prince and a pirate staring at a door doing nothing. It's hardly the beginnings of a heroic tale. Henry hits 240 steps (David has counted each one as well. Has it really only been 4 minutes since his daughter walked away from them?) when the earth shudders around them and all three stumble to the ground.

"Time's up," Killian announces. He's got his hook around the door handle when Henry's voice stops him.

"What is that?" Henry asks, already heading toward the light that was now emanating from the other side of the rock face. David grabbed his arm to slow his pace, the look Henry received told him that they were definitely going to have a conversation about him walking towards unknown dangers very soon. For now, the prince's curiosity matched his own.

"I'll stay here in case…something," Hook said, not wanting to leave the immediate vicinity less the landscape shift again and he never find his way back to her. David nodded his approval and his gratitude for the man in love with his daughter as he and Henry made their way closer to the source of the light.

"Is that?" Henry asked as they watched the portal swirl against the side of the cliff.

"A way home," David couldn't hold back his smile. He didn't know how, but somehow he was certain that Snow had something to do with this. She was a beacon showing them the way home. "Let's go get your moms and get out of here."

Henry didn't have to be told twice, racing back the way they had come, this time with David on his heels. They returned to find Killian resuming pacing where Henry had left off. "Portal," David told him, slightly breathless from the sprint.

"To Storybrooke?" Killian asked.

"Has to be," Henry answered.

"Anywhere is better than here," David added, but he knew in his gut the portal would take them home.

* * *

 _What do you think you're doing, Your Majesty?_

'Shut up,' Regina told the voice swimming through her veins.

 _I won't let her take you._

'You have me, leave her be.'

 _Beg me._

'Please.'

 _No._

.

.

.

"What was that?" Emma asked as she got back to her feet, got the cavern to light once more, and repositioned herself to release Regina's bonds.

"Emma, go!" Regina was writhing against the wall, bonds squeezing tighter and tighter, but it was the terror in her eyes that gave Emma pause. "It's not real," the queen choked out as Emma tried to keep the ropes from crushing her friend's throat.

"This is very real, Regina, and we are very much getting out of here. Now." Emma's magic slammed into the bonds. If Regina were still capable she would have screamed at the intensity of it, but the pain was gone just as soon as it started and she was falling faster than she could think, unused legs folding underneath her as she collapsed in a heap of limbs she couldn't move. It let her go. There was only one reason it would have let her go. "Emma, run!" Regina screamed in her head, but the sound was barely audible as she lay with her face in the dirt.

"Time's up, love." Emma spun at the sound of Killian's voice behind her. He was holding a lantern, old, like one he would use on his ship. The detail skimmed past her mind, there was too much going on to question it now.

"You're timing is perfect, as always," Emma grabbed his hand and pulled him to where Regina lay. "Help me get her out of here."

"Leave her, love," he said coldly. Emma had Regina half propped up until Killian's boot knocked the queen back to the ground. "She's not worth saving. You have everyone you need to get out of here."

"What the hell are you doing?" she yelled, crawling over Regina and placing herself between her friend and her lover. "She came here to help me save you. We're not leaving her!"

"Not much left to save, is there?" He walked a tight circle around the woman on the floor.

Emma felt the faint tug of Regina's fingers against her sleeve and the queen's words took on a new meaning. 'Not real,' she had warned. Emma twisted her arm until her hand found Regina's and she squeezed, hoping the gesture would convey the half formed plan Emma had in her head. She walked away from Regina, towards her pirate that so obviously wasn't hers at all. Every detail was there: the crease of his coat, the dent in his ring, the feel of his stubble as she cupped his cheek, but his eyes were wrong. Cold, unforgiving. His eyes had never looked at her that way. Even long before they were together, there was a sparkle there, a playfulness behind the pain. "Nice try," she said before pushing him back, light magic pinning him to the wall Regina had just fallen from. Killian was gone in an instant, replaced by a blinding blue light that grew faster that Emma could hold it back.

"Regina, get up I need you!" Emma yelled to the crumpled form on the floor. "I can't hold this thing by myself! Regina! Get up and help me!" She saw the shift out of the corner of her eye, saw what was left of the woman try to rise from the floor before falling back to the stone. Emma cried out as the light surged forward, magic shooting out in tendrils and lapping at her skin. There was a sharp stinging pain that ripped through her muscles causing her arms to shake. Holding the flow of her magic was taking everything the Savior had and she knew she wouldn't hold out much longer. "Don't do this to your son, Regina! I promised him I'd get you out of here. Do not make me a liar!"

Regina rolled to her back, the scarf Emma had followed to her clutched in her hand. The scarf her son had packed for her. Henry. Get up for Henry. Fight this for Henry. She heaved herself to her feet, fought past the pain that stemmed from every part of her body, and drug herself towards Emma. "Get ready to run," Regina said weakly as she raised shaking hands.

"We run together," Emma gritted out as the menacing light continued to attack.

Light magic, Regina thought to herself. You need to save them, you need to save yourself, you need light. Henry. Robin. Roland. David. Emma. Family. Safety. Love. The force of it exploding from her body, knocked her back, but she braced hard, held firm as she stood side by side with Emma pushing the demon back and back and back until there was nothing remaining but a faint blue crack in the wall. There were no more screams, no explosions, nothing but the sound of their heavy breathing. "Where's Henry?" Regina asked through panted breath. Emma grabbed her arm in response, engulfing them in white smoke.


	10. Chapter 10

**This is it. I'm a little sad to see this go. Thank you so much for all the follows and awesome reviews. It makes taking on a multi-chap much less terrifying. Quick formatting note (that I probably should have explained before the last chapter) Line Breaks are scene changes, Dot Breaks are time or character changes within the same scene. Hopefully that makes sense.**

* * *

 _Do not let my fickle flesh go to waste_

 _As it keeps my heart and soul in its place_

 _And I will love with urgency, but not with haste_

 _._

 _._

 _._

"Moms!" Henry crashed into them both, but pulled away from Regina instantly when he heard the groan of pain she couldn't suppress. "Mom?" Henry's eyes darted up and down her body. She looked nothing like the woman they'd lost only a few hours ago. Bruises covered her face, some fresh, some days old. She was paler, her hair hung in dirty waves that stuck to her skin, there were deep burns on her arms and legs—burns that he had watched Emma heal. And was she thinner? "How did this happen? You were just with us and you were fine. How…?" His voice broke and Regina pulled him back into her arms, held him to her even tighter than before. Pain be damned; her son needed her.

"I'm here, Henry," she held the back of his head, worked her arm under his pack so she could sooth up and down his back. "You're okay?" she asked, felling him nod against her neck. "That's all that matters."

"What happened?" David asked Emma as he watched mother and son.

"I'm honestly not all that sure. I couldn't really see her in there. I didn't know she was that bad. It's like that things had her this whole time." Emma was still trying to get her breathing to normalize. Her limbs felt like jelly and she wasn't sure her heart beat would ever be normal again. She'd never used that much magic before, never pushed that hard. Even with Regina helping her at the end, the savior was at her limit.

"Let's get out of here before it has a chance to get anyone else, shall we?" Killian stood with his arms around Emma, holding her close (holding her up, but he wouldn't let on that he was aware of that detail.)

"How?" Emma asked, looking up at him. She's staring him in the eyes; cautious at first, but then she sees it. That spark in the way he winks at her and lets herself relax just that little bit more. 'What is it?' his eyes ask, but Emma only shakes her head. "I'll tell you when we're home."

"Let's go then," David says, placing a hand each on the backs of Emma and Regina. "It's just around that rock face."

"What is?" Regina asks as Henry peels himself away from her.

"There's a portal," Henry says excitedly. "It's opened a few minutes after Ma went in to get you," he's pointing off to where Killian is already leading Emma. She can see the glow of it now, the swirling light reflecting off the rocks.

"I'm going to assume that you are not going to be a stubborn fool in front of your son," David whispers against her ear. He's sliding his arm slowly across her back the other down to her knee and the next thing she knows, Regina is off the ground being cradled against his chest. "Okay?" David asks, both to check her injuries and her ego.

"It's not far?" she asks, even though she can tell it's not, she refuses to let David carry her more than few feet.

"Just around the corner," Henry answers for him, smiling to David as they sharing a knowing look at Regina's expense.

"I can still roast you, Charming," she lets her head rest against his shoulder, but he doesn't miss the smile that pulls briefly at the corner of her mouth.

"You can roast me when we get back to Storybrooke. I'll bring marshmallows," David laughs.

.

.

.

The prince, as always, is true to his word. Regina had just gotten comfortable in his arms and he was already bending to set her down in front of the portal. "Take Henry," Regina instructs David, pulling her sons hand into his grandfather's.

"Mom," Henry begins to protest. His voice is stern, unbelieving that she is sending him away from her again.

"We'll be right behind you, Henry," Emma insists, urging the pair toward the portal, not taking her hands from their backs until they disappear through, the whole time eyeing Regina out of the corner of her eye. She looks like she's been through hell these past few days, Emma thinks as she admires the resilience of the woman who is still somehow mostly on her feet.

"You two next," Regina tells them, trying not to look like she's leaning as heavily as she is against the rocks around them.

"Don't take this the wrong way, love, but don't think we set about rescuing you to leave you behind," Killian bends to lift her onto his shoulder, drag her kicking and screaming if need be, but Regina's hand on his chest stops his descent.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Guyliner, but you weren't supposed to be alive. Portal rules: 4 in 4 out." Regina looks him dead in the eye, and then looks at Emma. She pushes against his chest, it does nothing to move him, he barely feels the pressure, but he sees what she's trying to do nonetheless.

"Break the rules," Emma's having none of this silent planning going on around her. She pulls at Regina's arm, yanking the brunette to her feet, catching her around the waist before she stumbles forward. "This isn't the same portal we came through anyway. The same rules don't apply," she justifies. In truth she has no idea how portals work, only that they get her to where she needs to be (most of the time), but the logic seems sound in her head. "I am not leaving you here," she said defiantly, pulling harder, dragging Regina closer to the portal and ignoring the wince from the stubborn queen. "I didn't just go through all that to leave you behind."

"Enough, Emma!" The blonde releases her instantly; even Hook flinches at the forcefulness rarely used since Regina had put her Evil Queen days behind her. "I'm going through," she promised. "I'm just not sure I'm coming out the other end, so please, take your pirate and go home to our son and hopefully I will see you in a few seconds."

"Hopefully isn't good enough," Emma gave her argument on more chance.

"Come on, Swan. You're a Charming. Hope is always good enough," Regina countered. Her demeanor softening when she knew she had won.

"Regina," Emma turned her back to the portal, to Killian and stared down Regina. This was a horrible plan. An absolutely horrible plan that she couldn't believe she was about to go along with.

"Emma, please," Regina's suddenly serious, somber; she's thought this through from the moment they found Killian alive, the moment she stepped foot in this realm, to be honest. "It stopped me before, something happened in that portal that I still can't fully remember, but it happened when I went through alone. Maybe that's what started all of this. I know it's a long shot, but it may be my only shot to get away from this thing." Her tears were falling again, gods above she was so tired of crying; she was just so tired. "Go." She looked past Emma to the pirate, the years of understanding passing quickly from one villain to another. Regina pushed, Killian pulled and just like that Regina was left alone.

* * *

They were staring at the portal, Robin and Snow, willing those that left them behind to come through. A crowd had gathered around them, someone must have taken charge to keep everyone back lest they get sucked through, but it wasn't the princess or the outlaw. They were frozen, entranced by the spinning light before them. Robin was jumpy, bouncing on the balls of his feat, fighting every instinct to run head long through the doorway and bring them back himself. Snow was frightened; with each fraction of an inch Robin moved forward, she moved back; with every second that passed without her family returning to her she lost more and more of her constant hope.

And then they were there, Henry and David, casually strolling out of the vortex and onto Main Street. "David!" Snow was in the prince's arms before he could register where her voice had come from. His arms tightened around her instinctively, turning them so that he faced the portal; clinging to his wife, but waiting anxiously for his daughter's arrival. Snow instantly noticed the absence of the rest of the group. "Where are they?" she asked, looking from David, to Henry, to Robin who had moved even closer to the portal's surface.

"They were right behind us," David told her, but didn't avert his gaze until Emma and Killian stumbled out into the street. He was pulling her, David noticed, and Regina wasn't with them.

"Where's my mom?" Henry demanded of Killian, knowing that there had to be a reason. They wouldn't have just left her behind.

"She's right behind us," Emma said confidently as she leaned into her mother's embrace, not sure if she was reassuring her son or herself.

"What the bloody hell is taking so long?" Robin yelled, it was the first he had spoken, the first any of the returned had noticed him.

"It happened when we went through to the other side," Emma came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him back just a bit. "She was…delayed somehow." Robin turned to face her, trying to read her expression, but Emma had a poker face. "She said she had to go through alone to face it. I shouldn't have let her. I…"

"Wouldn't have been able to stop her," Robin finishes, never turning back to the doorway. "Regina's iron-willed when she's set her mind to something." He steps close enough to feel the vibrations of the portal on his skin.

"Careful, mate," Killian cautions, hooking Robin's arm and pulling him back again. It hasn't even registered with Robin until that Killian was standing before him, that their rescue mission had indeed been a success.

"Welcome back," Robin tells the man still holding him in place, giving him a look that tells his friend that he won't be stopped from waiting for all or eternity for Regina to come through. Hook nods his understanding as he urges Robin back another small step (he knows it's as far as the man is willing to go.)

"She fought like hell in there, mate. In fact, she may have fought hell itself. And she won. Give her a minute, she'll find her way home." Killian squeezes Robin's arm, stepping back to allow Henry to lean in to Robin's side, the thief reflexively pulling the boy in to a hug.

"She'll be here," Henry said, but his voice shook with uncertainty. "She has to be." He stayed next to Robin, standing guard, the older man's arm draped over his shoulders. It was three full minutes. No one spoke, no one moved. For the first time since the curse was broken, Storybrooke seemed to stand still.

.

.

.

Emma felt the shift seconds before it happened. Something pulled at her magic, prickled at her spine. Before she could even put into words what was happening before the constant swirling of the portal came to sudden halt; the red light that filled it blazed white before turning to a particular shade of blue the Savior never wanted to see again. "NO!" Emma cried, lunging for the portal, raising her hands to fight the demon she was expecting to come through.

Instead, there was the unmistakable flash of fingertips that breaking the surface, then a hand reaching out, but was quickly pulled back in. Without thinking Robin plunged his arm in after her. He wasn't letting her slip away again.

* * *

Emma and Killian had gone and the portal was still spinning. Regina had half expected it to disappear the moment the four lives passed through; one check in the she-might-just-make-it-out-of-here-alive column. It was only a few feet away, but it may as well been miles for all her broken body was willing to cooperate. She took two steps before falling to her knees.

"Stand up straight, Regina. I raised a queen to reign, not a peasant to die in the dirt."

Regina didn't turn, didn't need to, she'd know that voice anywhere. It would seem, however, that her body did as well. She pushed herself back to her feet before she could even have thought about forcing the movement. Blind obedience still ingrained in her bones. "Yes, mother," she heard herself say.

"You're actually considering trying to walk through that thing aren't you?" Cora came up next to her, the train of her gown swirling the dust around them. "You know you won't survive it, Regina. Why are you putting yourself through this?"

"I want to go home." Regina took two more unsteady steps toward the portal's surface before Cora blocked her path. Her jeweled collar reflected the light from the portal into Regina's eyes so that she was forced to close them against the glare.

"Those people have made you weak. Their so called love won't save you. In the end, you'll be right back here." Her mother's voice was cold; it was cold until the day moment she died.

"Perhaps, but I'd rather die weak with my family than alone in this hell." Another step, barely an inch, but she was going in the right direction.

"Your family? That displaced group you've latched yourself to? A child Rumpelstiltskin shackled you with? A thief? A pirate? Snow White?! Really, Regina, I'd thought you better than that."

"You thought a lot of things about me, Mother. Most of them wrong." She's playing with fire, but no longer fears the burn. "Do you remember what you told me before you died," she asks, but doesn't give her time to answer. "You told me that I would have been enough. Just me. And then you died in my arms on the floor of Rumpelstiltskin's shop. I remember everything about that day. How you smiled at me, how you looked so different with your hair down, how you wearing a suit you stole from my closet. I buried you in it." Regina takes another step forward until she's nose to nose with her mother, standing shamelessly on her silk skirts.

"We could be like that again, Regina," Cora puts her hands on her daughter's shoulders, rubs up and down her arms. "We could start over, be how we were supposed to have been. I'll never hurt you again, of that you can be certain."

"There is one thing that I am certain of, Mother." _All the dead look as they did when they died_. She doesn't say it out loud, knows the demon will hear it all the same. "You're not real." With that, Regina walks straight ahead, the apparition on her mother dissolving as she passes through; the portal crackling with pent up energy as she finally enters.

.

.

.

It envelops her: like being under water. She feels as if she were both floating and sinking at the same time. Her movement sluggish, but smooth; she can feel the magic passing between her fingers as she gropes blindly for an exit to the other side, to home.

 _Don't think we're done, Regina. Don't ever think that you've beat me. Don't ever think that I'll let you leave. You belong to me. Your nightmares are mine, your screams are mine, every time you shiver, every time you look over your shoulder. You are mine._

"No," she says, and although she knows she isn't voicing it, she hears her voice calm and steady all the same. She feels herself grow stronger as the force around her grows weak, feels it slipping back and back as she continues to push herself forward. She's close, fingers breaking through, feeling the tingle of night air, of safety for the briefest of moments before it comes for her one last time. It wraps around her body and pulls her back into the vortex, but Regina can feel the shift. Instead of strength in the being there is desperation, instead of power there is fear. It has nothing left, but she has everything. Regina trudges forward again toward the freedom she had tasted. She can feel the hold it has on her slipping with every hard fought inch. "I belong to myself! My fears are my own and they do not control me!" she screams into the abyss as the last clutches of the demon begin to slip away. " _You_ do not control me." There's an arm reaching out for her, an arm marked with the crest of a lion and she reaches for it, grasps firmly and pulls herself free. She stumbles out into the street, into arms that hold her tightly against a body that would protect her against all else.

* * *

Robin pushed further until his shoulder disappeared in to the vortex, Killian's (and now David's) grip on him tighten to the point of pain, but he knows they won't pull back. They would be doing the same as he if roles had been reversed. He can't describe the sensation, it's almost as if his arm has detached from his body yet he can still feel it groping blindly, searching. Its then he feels it, familiar fingers wrapping securely around his forearm, his own fingers closing around hers. He pulls and backs up and pulls until she's colliding into him, solid and real. The portal snaps shut behind her. His grip shifting quickly from her arm to wrap around her as her knees buckle slightly. "I've got you," Robin says into her hair and adds "Henry's safe, everyone's safe" before she has a chance to ask.

She lets herself sag against him, presses her ear to the familiar beat beneath his chest. (It's faster than normal, but he did just pull her out of a portal, she justifies, as she raises tired arms to wrap around his back. She doesn't need to hold onto him, trusts him completely to keep her on her feet; she wants to hold onto him, to feel him warm and real under her palms, pressed against every inch of her. He shifts again, moving his arm further up her back, fingers pressing into her ribcage and holding her tighter. His other hand moves to her face, tips her back just enough so he can look down at her. The instant pain in his eyes lets Regina know exactly how poorly she's fared over the last few…days, weeks? She suddenly realizes she has no idea how long she'd been held captive or how long they'd been gone and once again panic starts to creep in. He must see the change in her, feel her heart beating faster, the breath she's been fighting to keep steady begin to shudder in and out because he pecks at her cracked lips, her temple, her forehead before weaving his fingers into her hair and pulling her back to his chest. "You're home," Robin assures as he nuzzles into her, tries to convey that that is the only thing that matters. "It's over. You're home."

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Snow started breathing again the second the portal snapped shut. They were home, all of them had made it back. Now she could feel. Unfortunately for David, the first thing she felt was the anger she'd been suppressing with worry from the moment that he'd left. The prince returned to her side, laced his fingers with her own, and Snow snapped. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" she scolded in a harsh whisper, ripping her hand from his. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to watch you walk away? To wake up at 3 am to an empty bed and a screaming child and know that you may never come home again? Do you know what it's like to live with the fact that you chose this for me? That you chose for me to be the one to stay? That you…you…"

David could only stare at her. The words 'you're cute when you're mad' on the tip of his tongue, but he knew better than to let them fall. He couldn't hold back the grin, though, and Snow stopped her tirade the moment the smile split is face. "Are you done?" he asked once she had paused for breath.

"For the moment," Snow answered, leaving herself open to resume this later, although she knew she never would.

"Good." David cupped his hand behind her neck and pulled her to him, sealing their lips and silencing anymore protests from his wife.

.

.

.

"That fight didn't last long," Hook and Emma both turned away from the Charming's suddenly-very-passionate kiss.

"Never does. They love each other," Emma leaned closer into him, her eyes focusing on their joined hands.

"Love is a powerful thing." He's staring at her, hasn't really stopped since the moment he laid eyes on her.

"It is," Emma agrees, looking back to where her parents are still shamelessly kissing in the middle Main Street, to where Robin is holding Regina so tightly she can see his muscles work through his shirt.

"One might say it can bring back the dead," Killian leans against her, bringing her wandering eyes back into focus.

"You weren't dead," Emma corrects, laying her hand over a heartbeat that is still his own.

"Aye, but you thought I was. And you brought me back. Still counts." He pats the hand over his heart, covers it, and holds it there.

"I suppose it does," Emma concedes, winding an arm around his neck and running her fingers through the hair at his nape. It's longer than it was the last time she's done this and she thinks she may like him like this, a bit rougher around the edges.

"Did I thank you, Emma? For coming for me?" Killian asks, wrapping both arms around her back and rocking her back and forth. He honestly doesn't remember. It had been a bedlam of running and fighting from the second she'd thrown her arms around him.

"Did I thank you for dying for me?" she means to jest, to lift the weighted emotion his question brought, but her eyes betray her and he knows she feels his sacrifice as keenly as he does hers.

"Let's call it a draw, shall we?" he offers. It has her smiling again, leaning into him again, and while the moment allows, he simply holds.

.

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Robin's barely aware of the reunions going on around him. He can hear the cheers and well wishes, but they're all just back ground noise to Regina's quiet cries against his chest—a sound he's positive only he hears and he intends to keep it that way, holding her closer, coaxing gently as he inches her away from the gathering crowd.

"Heal her." Its Granny Lucas voice that rises above the crowd and has Robin looking up to see the matriarch standing before Gold, arms crossed and unflinching.

"She's more than capable of healing herself," Gold answers, turning from the people around him and heading back to his shop. A firm hand on his arm turns him back; the Widow Lucas has never backed down.

"She's barely capable of standing right now. Do you want your grandson to see his mother like that?" she point to where Regina is sheltered in Robin's arms. The thief conceals her well, but what could be seen of her ripped and burned clothes, the random splattering of blood in various degrees of drying left little doubt to what condition the rest of her was in.

"Henry is—" Gold began.

"Waiting for you to do the right thing," Belle finished for him. "As am I," she added looking pointedly at her husband.

Gold suddenly found all eyes on him. Henry's and Belle's in particular seemed to bore into what was left of the Dark One's soul. "I would be more than happy to assist our beloved Mayor," his voice was so thick with sarcasm Granny was surprised he didn't choke on it as he strode nonchalantly over to where Robin stood with Regina.

The thief's grip tightened the closer Gold got to them. He had only picked up a few words of the conversations going on around him, completely focused on the woman in his arms. When Gold reached for Regina without explanation, Robin struck light lightening, grabbing the older man's wrist and holding him back.

"Get away from her," Robin all but growled. He would most likely have ripped Rumple apart, but Granny was at his side, her arm on his that held Rumple just far enough away.

"Let him help her," Granny said calmly, squeezing at Robin's wrist with one hand, the other finding its way to Regina's back to rub up and down her spine. "He won't do her any harm with this many people watching, with Henry watching," she spoke to Gold as well as Robin making it clear that Dark One or not, if Gold tried anything, he wouldn't get far.

"I can do it," Emma said as she came up behind them. It was a far better proposition to Robin than the Dark One laying a finger on Regina, but one look at Emma told him that she was beyond exhausted herself. The arm Killian had snugly around her waist was there for much more than an offering of affection.

Regina was barely conscious against him; if it weren't for his hold around her back and Granny holding her to his chest he's certain she would have fallen well before now. "What's it going to be, Outlaw?" Gold asked wiggling his fingers in Robin's grip. "I haven't got all day."

"If you hurt one hair on her…" Robin threatened as Gold pulled his hand free, straightened out his shirt cuff and placed his hand just above Regina's cheek.

"I've never hurt her," he told Robin as the magic began to glow beneath his palm. And it was true, he hadn't. He'd been cruel, that was true. He had watched as other's hurt her, perhaps. Had 'avoided' getting involved in events he probably could have spared her from, but Rumpelstiltskin himself had never physically hurt her. Nor would he now. His magic washed over her, sealing cuts, soothing burns, setting back to right bone and muscle that had strained for too long. When he pulled back his hand, Regina crumpled, but Granny was there, David and Snow too, gathering her hastily into arms, lowering her safely to the pavement. Robin lunged at Gold, but the thief was frozen mid stride by a flick of the Dark One's wrist. "She needs rest, dearie. Magic can't heal simple exhaustion; her body has been through more than it should be capable of withstanding in a short amount of time. You can thank me later," Rumple said as he vanished in a cloud of dark red smoke, releasing Robin to stumble forward.

"She's alright, Robin," Granny called from where she sat in the street, Regina sleeping her breast.

Henry was at her side holding her hand and tucking stray hairs behind her ear. "She's breathing better," he said to mostly to himself, finding that he was as well. She looked like his mother again, like the woman that nothing could hurt.

"We should probably get out of the street," David said to Robin, placing the hand not holding Snow's on his shoulder.

"My car's just across the way. I'd be more than happy to give you a lift home," Robin turned to see the knowing smile of Will Scarlett. Little John stood next to him with Roland secured in his arm. He nodded appreciatively, turning back to Regina to see that Emma was now also on her knees with a hand on Henry's back, one still looped around Killian's hook. The crowd that Robin had tried to shield her from formed a tight circle around them. Not a crowd, he realized. Family. Hers. Theirs. A family that was protecting the woman they once needed protection against.

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"Where to, Swan?" Killian asked after they'd seen the Charmings, the Mills, and the Locksleys all safely off to their homes. There were still at the clock tower, sitting closely together on a bench outside the library, reveling in how their little town had already resumed it routine as if a portal to hell hadn't been swirling in the street barely an hour ago.

She wrapped an arm around his back and let her head fall to his shoulder. "I want to sleep for a month." The last drops of adrenaline had left her and Emma was spent.

"Your place or mine?" he kissed into the top of her head.

"Ours?" she asked hesitantly, not seeing the smile sparkling his eyes. He didn't answer immediately, just stared down at the woman he loved who was finally going to give him a chance to do just that. His silence didn't last long, but it was long enough for Emma's insecurity to flair and she started backpedaling, stumbling over words she didn't want to say. "I mean…if you still want…we did sort of talk about it…in Camelot…and I sort of have this house that is really too big for me…but if you…"

"Emma," he sat straight forcing her to do the same, turning her head to face him.

"Or we could…"

His thumb covered her lips, silencing her doubts, stays there until her lips pucker slightly to kiss there; his own lips quickly replaced his fingers as he kissed her for the first time since she'd found him. It was urgent, a little clumsy, but smooth and easy had never been their style. He's a little breathless when he finally pulls himself away from her kiss. Emma's hand still rests against his face, fingers stroking the stubble along his cheek. When she looks into his eyes she sees him, sees his love for her, and she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was all worth it. "I love you," she tells him through a watery smile, leaning in for one more soft kiss before standing and reaching for his hand. "Let's go home.

.

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Robin wakes to her arm jerking against him, her head thrashing back and forth against the pillow. He rolls to his side so he's pressed against her, runs his knuckles softly over her cheek, kisses just above her eye. Her eye's snap open at the contact, he's close, too close. She feels hot breath against her skin, fingers trailing down her neck.

"Don't touch me!" she pushes against his chest, his face, and scrambles back, falling to the floor before Robin has a chance to speak. He's at her side in seconds, hitting the switch that turns on the overhead light, pulls the blankets that hadn't followed her to the floor, and sits across from her.

"Regina, it's alright." He reaches for her, but doesn't dare touch.

She scoots back further until she's pressed against the dresser. Her eyes are wild, terrified. He's seen that look in them before, far too often in fact. They always looked past him; she was always seeing some horror from her past that hadn't quiet stayed in the nightmare it belonged to. He would give her a moment, allow her to fully wake, to see him, and then pull her close. This was different. She saw Robin, looked straight at him, into him, and she was afraid. What the hell had happened to her in that realm, Robin wondered for the thousandth time today. What could possibly have made her fear _his_ touch?

"Regina," he tries again, louder, but gently, remaining perfectly still for he has no idea what she will do or where she will go if he spooks her.

"You're you?" she finally asks after long stretched out minutes of nothing but the ticking of the bedside clock and their shared frantic breathing.

"I'm me, love." Robin's body relaxes infinitesimally when hers does.

"We're home?" Her eyes dart from his to the room around her and back again.

"We're home," he confirms. "Gold healed you and we brought you here. You've been asleep for hours. The kids are all tucked in down the hall." He sees her relax just a bit more and allows himself the same. She's working it all out, nodding to herself, fingers fisting in the blankets she's tangled in; she's coming back to him. "May I touch you?" he tries, reaching out fingers inch by inch, prepared to retreat if the answer is no. They reach her knee and he waits, watches her face for acquiescence.

He doesn't have to wait long. She ignores his hand, ops instead for crawling across the small space between them and letting herself be folded into his arms. "I'm sorry," she says into his neck. She won't cry. She's done crying, but she will let herself be held. There's no weakness in needing.

"No need for apologies. You've had a bit of a rough week, yeah?" He feels her chuckle against him and relaxes fully, leaning against the side of the bed and settling her between his thighs. "Talk to me, mi'lady."

She shakes her head firmly against his neck. "Not yet." She's not ready for that, not ready to relive it all so soon. It's still too close, still a wound not yet healed.

"Very well, then," he shifts them a bit so that her back rests against is front and pulls the pile of blankets over them. "I'll just hold on to you for a bit if that's okay."

"More than okay," she sighs against his chest, holding his arms around her. "I missed you."

"And I you, Mi'lady." He kisses her hair, shimmies down just a bit so her head rests in the crook of his neck instead of against his chest.

"Robin?" she whispers, mostly warm breath against his skin. He hmmmm's in response, much needed sleep already re-claiming him. "Thank you for not letting go."

"Never." The arms around her waist pull her in impossibly tighter until they're fused together, his face buried in her hair.

When Regina sleeps she does not dream.

fin

* * *

Thank you for reading.


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